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Table 1 Study population characteristics and Lactobacillus detection by feeding method

From: Characterization and in vitro properties of oral lactobacilli in breastfed infants

 

Breastfed (n=43)

Standard formula (n=43)

MFGM formula (n=47)

p-value

Gender (boys/girls)1

18/25

23/20

25/22

0.216

Vaginal delivery (% yes)1

95.3

88.4

83.0

0.095

Weight (gram)2

    

 At birth

3,610 (3,492-3,728)

3,481 (3,332-3,630)

3,552 (3,444-3,660)

0.352

 At 4 months of age

6,742 (6,548-6,935)

6,850 (6,575-7,126)

6,859 (6,670-7,049)

0.704

Length (cm)2

    

 At birth

50.5 (50.0-51.1)

50.3 (49.7-50.9)

50.6 (50.0-51.1)

0.739

 At 4 months of age

63.9 (63.3-64.5)

63.7 (62.9-64.6)

64.3 (63.7-64.9)

0.522

CFU lactobacilli/mL of saliva (log10)3

1.22 (0.20)a,b

0.15 (0.19)a

0.28 (0.19)b

<0.001

% (n) with lactobacilli cultured in saliva1

 

 Among all infants (n=127)

34.1% (14)a,b

4.7% (2)a

9.3% (4)b

<0.001

 Among infants who never had antibiotics or probiotics (n=106)

33.3% (10)a,b

5.6% (2)a

11.8% (4)b

0.006

 Among vaginally delivered infants (n=118)

35.9% (14)a,b

2.6% (1)a

8.3% (3)b

<0.001

% (n) infants with salivary isolates of L. gasseri1

29.3% (12)a,b

2.4% (1)a

7.0% (3)b

<0.001

L. gasseri by qPCR (pg/μL in mucosal swab samples)4

2.14 (0.74)a

0.31 (0.70)a

0.74 (0.68)

0.0974

  1. 1 Differences in proportions between feeding group numbers were tested with Chi2 test. Shared superscript letters (a and b) indicate differences between groups when tested pairwise (p≤0.008).
  2. 2 Data are presented as mean (95% CI) and differences between group means were tested with ANOVA.
  3. 3 Data are presented as mean (SE). Means are adjusted for delivery mode and exposure to probiotic drops at 4 months using generalized linear modelling (p=0.012, one sided test). Shared superscript letters (a and b) indicate groups that differ significant when tested pairwise (p-value≤0.01). The p-value between the two formula groups was p=0.439.
  4. 4 Data are presented as mean (SE). Means are adjusted for delivery mode, exposure to probiotic drops at 4 months (yes/no) and amount of DNA using generalized linear modelling. Shared superscript letter (a) indicates the groups that differ significantly when tested pairwise (one sided). Table 1 shows p-value between groups (p=0.097). P-values for the breastfed versus the standard formula group was p=0.040 and breastfed versus MFGM formula group p=0.089, and between the two formula groups p=0.329. 6.75×105pg/mL correspond to 5.9×107 CFU L. gasseri cells/mL. Employing number of bacteria/mL in the regression model leads to identical results.