Table 1. Demographic and epidemiological characteristics of IBS and control groups.
| IBS group | |||||||
| Control group | Overall | IBS-C | IBS-D | IBS-M | IBS-U | ||
| Populations | |||||||
| Number | 56 | 56 | 40 | 9 | 4 | 3 | |
| Male | 21 | 19 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 2 | |
| Female | 35 | 37 | 28 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |
| Age, years (mean±SD) | 53.3±16.3 | 53.6±16.0 | 55.1±16.4 | 50.2±16.2 | 45.0±12.0 | 55.3±15.6 | |
| Blastocystis -positive | |||||||
| Number/total ( p -value) | 9/56 | 13/56( p = 0.476) | 11/40( p = 0.583) | 1/9 | 1/4 | 0/3 | |
| Male/Total (p-value) | 1/21 | 7/19 (p = 0.017) | 5/12 (p = 0.037) | 1/4 | 1/1 | n.a. | |
| Female/Total (p-value) | 8/35 | 6/37 (p = 0.559) | 6/28 (p = 0.745) | 0/4 | 0/3 | n.a. | |
| Age, years (mean±SD) | 55.3±19.8 | 52.5±16.4 | 51.6±17.7 | 62 | 52 | n.a. | |
| Subtype distribution | ST1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | n.a. |
| ST2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | n.a. | |
| ST3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | n.a. | |
| ST4 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | n.a. | |
| Co-infection | 1 [ST2+ST4] | 1 [ST2+ST5] | 1 [ST2+ST5] | 0 | 0 | n.a. | |
| Dientamoeba fragilis -positive | |||||||
| Number/total ( p -value) | 0/56 | 6/56 ( p = 0.027) | 4/40 | 1/9 | 1/4 | 0/3 | |
| Age, years (mean±SD) | n.a. | 55.8±16.4 | 58.3±19.0 | 61 | 41 | n.a. | |
Overall: males plus females, S.D.: standard deviation, n.a.: not applicable, ST: subtype. P-values of 0.05 or below were considered as significant (two-sided).