Table 1.

Demographic and clinical characteristics at baseline.

	FOS Group (n = 19)	Control Group (n = 19)	p
Age (months)	12.77 ± 4.37	13.00 ± 5.19	0.890 †
Sex
Female	10 (52.6%)	10 (52.6%)	1.000 *
Male	9 (47.4%)	9 (47.4%)
Number of bowel movements per week	6.27 ± 1.32	5.66 ± 1.87	0.133 †
Predominant stool shape and consistency
Cylindrical with cracks	13 (68.4%)	8 (42.1%)	0.191 *
Scybalous	6 (31.6%)	11 (57.9%)
Straining and/or difficulty in more than 50% of bowel movements	16 (84.2%)	16 (84.2%)	1.000 *
Pain and/or crying in more than 50% of bowel movements	11 (57.9%)	12 (63.2%)	1.000 *

FOS: fructooligosaccharide; Consistency and shape: predominant occurrence (more than four times per week); * Two-tailed chi-squared test with Yates’ correction; † Two-tailed Student’s t-test, mean ± standard deviation.