Abstract:
The gut microbiota has been immensely studied over the past years because of its involvement
in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases. However, gut microbiota data in Africa are limited.
Therefore, it is crucial to have studies that reflect various populations in order to fully capture global
microbial diversity. In the proposed scoping review, we will describe the gut microbiota’s appearance
in terms of gut microbiota markers, in both health and disease in African populations. Relevant
publications will be searched for in the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Academic Search Premier,
Africa-Wide Information, African journals online, CINAHL, and EBSCOhost and Embase databases.
We will focus on articles published between January 2005 and March 2023. We will also determine
if the studies to be included in the review would provide enough data to identify quantifiable gut
microbiome traits that could be used as health or disease markers, identify the types of diseases
that were mostly focused on in relation to gut microbiota research in Africa, as well as to discover
and analyze knowledge gaps in the gut microbiota research field in the continent. We will include
studies involving African countries regardless of race, gender, age, health status, disease type, study
design, or care setting. Two reviewers will conduct a literature search and screen the titles/abstracts
against the eligibility criteria. The reviewers will subsequently screen full-text articles and identify
studies that meet the inclusion criteria. This will be followed by charting the data using a charting
tool and analysis of the evidence. The proposed scoping review will follow a qualitative approach
such that a narrative summary will accompany the tabulated/graphical results which will describe
how the results relate to the review objectives and questions. As a result, this review may play a
significant role in the identification of microbiota-related adjunctive therapies in the African region
where multiple comorbidities coexist. Scoping review registration: Open Science Framework.
