Association between occupational exposure and characteristics of respiratory flora among anesthesiology medical staff

Background Few studies have explored the association between occupational exposure of medical staff in the department of anesthesiology and the characteristics of their respiratory flora. Methods Thirty medical staff in the non-operating room (Group A) and 30 medical staff in the department of anesthesiology (Group B) from a general Class Ⅲ Grade A hospital between March 2024 to December 2024 were recruited. Ten medical staff from each group were randomly selected to provide nasal swab samples. 16S rDNA sequencing technology was used to analyze the diversity, taxonomic composition and species differences of the two groups of samples. Results Compared with group A, there were statistically significant differences in the Shannon and Simpson indices of the microbiota alpha diversity index in group B (P < 0.05). The PCA and PCoA analysis results showed that there were statistically significant differences in beta diversity between the two groups (P < 0.05). The taxonomic composition of the microbiota at the genus level showed that the relative abundance of Staphylococcus and Nocardia in Group B was significantly higher than that in Group A (P < 0.05). The relative abundance of Streptococcus, Peptostreptococcus, Veillonella, Fusobacterium, Prevotella, Corynebacterium and Atopobium in Group B was obviously lower than that in Group A (P < 0.05). The LDA value (degree of differential influence) in the LEfSe multi-level species difference analysis showed statistically differences between the two groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions Long-term exposure to the operating room environment and various occupational exposure factors result in a reduction in the diversity of respiratory tract microbiota and dysbiosis of the microbiota structure and function among medical staff in the anesthesiology department. It is necessary to pay more attention to the respiratory health of medical staff in the anesthesiology department and prevent occupational exposure risks. Trial registration This study is retrospectively registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Regitry Network (ChiCTR2500110353) on October 13, 2025.