Table 2.

OTU-based diversity indexes in fecal samples of the experimental groups of subjects.

α-Diversity indices	P (mean)	R (mean)	C (mean)	p-value (ANOVA)
Chao1	453.4 ± 194,7	366.9 ± 155.9	422.0 ± 151.2	0.14
Observed Species	215.6 ± 78,0	189.2 ± 74.0	221.4 ± 60.8	0.25
Simpson	17.7 ± 11,1	15.6 ± 9.0	13.3 ± 7.3	0.31

The table shows the total number of OTUs, (b) Chao index and (c) Simpson’s evenness indexes in CFS patients, patients’ relatives and external control group respectively. Univariate (ANOVA) test is applied in order to assess significant differences between groups (p < 0.05).

P CFS/ME patients, R patients’ relatives, C external control group.