Probiotics, Symptoms, and Gut Microbiota: What Are the Relations? A Randomized Controlled Trial in Subjects with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Table 1

IBS symptom scores, the relative proportion of the components of the fecal microbiota, and the diversity indexes in the four parts of the trial. Results are given as mean (SD).

Variables	Run-in period	1st treatment period	Washout period	2nd treatment period
IBS symptom score (range 0–15)
Active treatment 1st period	6.17 (1.07)	6.18 (1.83)	6.58 (2.55)	5.14 (2.12)
Placebo treatment 1st period	6.26 (2.20)	5.61 (1.31)	5.80 (2.61)	6.77 (1.85)
Bacteroides
Active treatment 1st period	0.07 (0.05)	0.07 (0.06)	0.07 (0.07)	0.12 (0.10)
Placebo treatment 1st period	0.19 (0.17)	0.21 (0.16)	0.16 (0.12)	0.14 (0.10)
Faecalibacterium
Active treatment 1st period	0.54 (0.23)	0.53 (0.21)	0.47 (0.26)	0.46 (0.26)
Placebo treatment 1st period	0.44 (0.23)	0.56 (0.21)	0.54 (0.15)	0.61 (0.25)
Lachnospiraceae
Active treatment 1st period	0.38 (0.22)	0.40 (0.17)	0.46 (0.23)	0.42 (0.24)
Placebo treatment 1st period	0.37 (0.21)	0.23 (0.14)	0.30 (0.16)	0.26 (0.18)
“Common” Simpson’s D
Active treatment 1st period	0.46 (0.09)	0.48 (0.10)	0.46 (0.13)	0.48 (0.11)
Placebo treatment 1st period	0.52 (0.20)	0.51 (0.23)	0.54 (0.12)	0.46 (0.18)
“Alternative” Simpson’s D
Active treatment 1st period	321 (382)	59 (19)	67 (21)	28 (10)
Placebo treatment 1st period	92	135	33	89
“Alternative” Shannon’s H
Active treatment 1st period	6.42 (0.80)	5.86 (0.03)	5.73 (0.27)	5.47 (0.36)
Placebo treatment 1st period	6.09	6.42	5.79	6.12