Table 1 Population, Exposure, Comparator, Outcome, Time frame, Study design (PECOTS) approach

From: Mother-to-infant vertical transmission in early life: a systematic review and proportional meta-analysis of Bifidobacterium strain transmissibility

Participants (P)

Mother-infant pairs within the first 24 months following birth including both breastfed and non-breastfed infants

Exposure (E)

Bifidobacterium in HM, skin, vaginal, oral, and gut microbiota of mothers and their infants as based on fecal sample analysis.

Comparator (C)

Transmission events of Bifidobacterium members from the maternal microbiota to the corresponding fecal-based infant gut microbiota, as well as the contributions and dominance of the different samples collected from mothers.

Outcomes (C)

Species transmissibility for each detected Bifidobacterium species defined as the number of mother-infant pairs with shared strains divided by the number of mother-infant pairs with shared species.

Time Frame (T)

First 24 months of life.

Study design (S)

Observational cross-sectional, longitudinal studies, and intervention studies.

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