Table 1. Characteristics of participants by L. reuteri consumption.

Variable	Placebo (n = 20)		Test (n = 21)		P-value
Gender (% men) 1	53.3		46.7		0.453
Age in years [mean (95% CI)] 2	27.8 (23.8–31.8)		28.5 (23.4–33.7)		0.819
Compliance [mean (95% CI)] 2 , 3	90.2 (86.3–94.1)		97.8 (89.3–96.2)		0.100
Lactobacilli positive by culture [n (%)] 1
baseline	6 (30.0)		6 (28.6)		0.595
week 4	6 (30.0)		17 (81.0)		0.001
week 8	8 (40.0)		14 (66.7)		0.081
week 12	6 (30.0)		18 (85.7)		<0.001
1-month follow-up	5 (25.0)		11 (52.4)		0.069
Lactobacilli counts [log CFU/mL saliva, mean (95%CI)] 4
baseline	0.36 (0.07–0.66)		0.42 (0.05–0.80)		0.796
week 4	0.84 (0.19–1.49)		2.54 (1.88–3.21)		<0.001
week 8	1.04 (0.39–1.68)		1.96 (1.26–2.66)		0.049
week 12	0.72 (0.17–1.28)		2.61 (1.94–3.28)		<0.001
1-month follow-up	0.68 (0.07–1.28)		1.61 (0.86–2.36		0.051
L. reuteri DSM 17938 [n (%) positive] 1	Culture	PCR	Culture	PCR	Culture	PCR
Baseline	0	0	0	0	-	-
week 4	0	0	10 (47.6)	13 (61.9)	<0.001	<0.001
week 8	0	0	14 (66.7)	15 (71.4)	<0.001	<0.001
week 12	0	0	13 (61.9)	15 (71.4)	<0.001	<0.001
1-month follow-up	0	0	4 (19.0)	6 (28.6)	0.059	0.012
6-month follow-up	0	0	0	0	-	-
L. reuteri PTA 5289 [n (%) positive] 1	Culture	PCR	Culture	PCR	Culture	PCR
baseline	0	0	0	0	-	-
week 4	0	1 (5.0)	5 (23.8)	15 (71.4)	0.027	<0.001
week 8	0	0	4 (19.0)	13 (61.9)	0.059	<0.001
week 12	0	0	9 (42.9)	14 (66.7)	0.001	<0.001
1-month follow-up	0	0	2 (9.5)	4 (19.0)	0.059	0.256
6-month follow-up	0	0	0	0	-	-

¹ Differences between group numbers tested with Chi² test

² Differences between group means tested with Student’s t-test

³ % compliance = (lozenges consumed/ lozenges expected to be consumed)*100

⁴ Difference between the test and placebo group were analyzed by non-parametric statistics (The Mann–Whitney U-test). Numbers are expressed as log₁₀ values

CFU, colony-forming unit; CI, confidence interval