Gut Microbiome

Gut microbiota characteristics in patients with inguinal hernia: a prospective observational study.

Jin Z, Li L, Li B • Hernia : the journal of hernias and abdominal wall surgery • 2026

PubMed 42905329 DOI 10.1007/s10029-026-03888-0
TL;DR

Inguinal hernia patients present a distinct gut microbial profile marked by reduced beta diversity and altered taxonomic composition, with specific bacterial taxa differentiating indirect, direct inguinal hernia and control subjects.

Key Findings

Methods

The study compared gut microbiota in 68 inguinal hernia patients and 50 controls, most of whom had indirect hernia.

  • 52 patients were diagnosed with indirect hernia and 16 with direct hernia.
  • Fecal bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to profile the gut microbiota.
  • LEfSe was used to identify enriched taxa, and PICRUSt was used for functional profiling.
  • The study was a prospective observational design.
Results

Beta diversity differed significantly between hernia patients and controls at the ASV level.

  • The abstract reports significant ASV-level clustering differences between hernia and control groups.
  • The authors summarize this as a profile marked by reduced beta diversity in hernia patients.
Results

At the phylum level, Bacillota was increased while Pseudomonadota, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidota were decreased in hernia patients.

  • Relative abundance of Bacillota was higher in hernia patients than controls.
  • Pseudomonadota, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidota had lower relative abundance in hernia patients.
Results

At the genus level, hernia patients had higher Blautia, Ruminococcus, Anaerobutyricum, and Dorea and lower Phocaeicola, Enterobacter, Delftia, and Alistipes than controls.

  • Four genera were enriched and four were depleted in inguinal hernia patients relative to controls.
  • Differences were reported as relative abundance comparisons between the hernia and control groups.
Results

Direct hernia patients had higher relative abundances of Enterococcus and Segatella than indirect hernia patients.

  • Comparison was between the direct hernia group (n=16) and the indirect hernia group (n=52).
  • Differences at genus level distinguished hernia subtypes.
Results

LEfSe feature selection identified several genera and species that discriminated inguinal hernia patients from controls.

  • Specific taxa also differentiated indirect hernia, direct hernia, and control subjects.
  • The abstract does not list all discriminating taxa.
Results

Predicted microbiota functional profiling showed perturbed KEGG and COG pathways in hernia patients.

  • Functional profiling was performed with PICRUSt, which infers function from 16S data.
  • Specific pathways are not detailed in the abstract.

What This Means

This study compared the gut bacteria of 68 people with inguinal hernia (a bulge in the groin) to 50 people without one. Researchers sequenced bacterial DNA from stool samples. Most of the hernia patients had the indirect type (52) while 16 had the direct type. The gut bacterial communities of hernia patients differed from those of controls. Hernia patients had more of the phylum Bacillota and less of Pseudomonadota, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidota. Several specific genera, such as Blautia and Ruminococcus, were more abundant in hernia patients, while others, such as Phocaeicola and Alistipes, were less abundant. Direct and indirect hernias also differed in some bacteria, and predicted metabolic pathways appeared altered in hernia patients. This research suggests there is an association between gut microbiota and inguinal hernia, possibly related to the proposed gut-muscle axis. However, this is an observational study, so it cannot show that gut bacteria cause hernias or that hernias change gut bacteria. The sample was small and the functional predictions are inferred rather than directly measured, so further work is needed to understand what the differences mean.

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Citation

Jin Z, Li L, Li B. (2026). Gut microbiota characteristics in patients with inguinal hernia: a prospective observational study.. Hernia : the journal of hernias and abdominal wall surgery. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10029-026-03888-0