Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of the COVID-19 patients at baseline before and after matching. a .
| Before matching |
After matching |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Non-probiotics group n = 196 |
Probiotics group n = 179 |
SDM b | Non-probiotics group n = 150 |
Probiotics group n = 150 |
SDM b |
| Male sex, n (%) | 105 (53.6) | 88 (49.2) | 0.09 | 76 (50.7) | 77 (51.3) | 0.01 |
| Age, median (IQR), years | 50 (36–62) | 48 (36–59) | 0.01 | 50 (37–62) | 49 (35–60) | 0.00 |
| BMI, median (IQR) | 23.6 (21.7–26.1) | 22.9 (20.8–25.1) | 0.08 | 23.3 (21.4–25.6) | 23.2 (21.3–25.3) | 0.01 |
| Disease severity, n (%) | ||||||
| Mild | 11 (5.6) | 15 (8.4) | 0.11 | 10 (6.7) | 11 (7.4) | 0.03 |
| Moderate | 174 (88.8) | 157 (87.7) | 0.03 | 135 (90.0) | 134 (89.3) | 0.02 |
| Severe | 11 (5.6) | 7 (3.9) | 0.08 | 5 (3.3) | 5 (3.3) | 0.0 |
| Comorbidity, n (%) | ||||||
| Hypertension | 36 (18.4) | 31 (17.3) | 0.03 | 27 (18.0) | 31 (20.7) | 0.07 |
| Diabetes | 22 (11.2) | 15 (8.4) | 0.09 | 16 (10.7) | 14 (9.3) | 0.05 |
| Coronary disease | 10 (5.1) | 6 (3.4) | 0.08 | 7 (4.7) | 6 (4.0) | 0.03 |
| Laboratory test, median (IQR) | ||||||
| WBC count, ×109/l | 4.6 (3.8–5.7) | 4.8 (3.8–6.0) | 0.09 | 4.7 (3.9–5.8) | 4.7 (3.6–5.0) | 0.00 |
| Lymphocyte count, ×109/l | 1.2 (1.0–1.7) | 1.3 (1.0–1.7) | 0.23 | 1.3 (1.0–1.7) | 1.3 (1.0–1.7) | 0.02 |
| IL-6, pg/ml | 10.2 (3.9–20.7) | 6.3 (3.0–17.1) | 0.01 | 8.8 (3.4–17.3) | 8.5 (3.0–18.9) | 0.00 |
| D-dimer, μg/ml | 0.4 (0.3–0.6) | 0.3 (0.2–0.5) | 0.04 | 0.4 (0.2–0.6) | 0.4 (0.3–0.6) | 0.07 |
| ALT, g/l | 21.0 (15.0–30.8) | 18.0 (12.0–28.0) | 0.00 | 20.0 (13.0–29.0) | 19.0 (13.0–29.5) | 0.00 |
| AST, g/l | 25.0 (19.3–31.0) | 22.0 (19.0–28.0) | 0.01 | 24.0 (19.0–30.0) | 23.0 (19.0–29.3) | 0.01 |
| T cell count, /ml | 967 (592–1261) | 1076 (711–1389) | 0.00 | 988 (628–1373) | 1043 (678–1359) | 0.00 |
| CD4+ T cell count, /ml | 519 (377–735) | 586 (413–780) | 0.00 | 545 (390–759) | 567 (409–780) | 0.00 |
| CD8+ T cell count, /ml | 343 (204–470) | 386 (240–539) | 0.00 | 348 (200–504) | 377 (231–514) | 0.00 |
| Radiological findings, n (%) | ||||||
| Normal | 10 (5.1) | 15 (8.4) | 0.13 | 9 (6.0) | 11 (7.3) | 0.05 |
| Ground-glass opacity | 174 (88.8) | 157 (87.7) | 0.03 | 129 (86.0) | 133 (88.7) | 0.08 |
| Bilateral pulmonary infiltration | 147 (75.0) | 131 (73.3) | 0.04 | 108 (72.0) | 114 (76.0) | 0.09 |
| Duration of illness onset to any treatments initiation, median (IQR), days | 3 (2–6) | 3.5 (2–7) | 0.02 | 3 (2–7)) | 3 (1–5) | 0.05 |
| Treatments, n (%) | ||||||
| Antibiotics | 76 (38.8) | 58 (32.4) | 0.13 | 54 (36.0) | 49 (32.7) | 0.07 |
| Antiviral treatment | 196 (100.0) | 179 (100.0) | 0.00 | 150 (100.0) | 150 (100.0) | 0.00 |
| Corticosteroids | 68 (34.7) | 32 (17.9) | 0.39 | 32 (21.3) | 32 (21.3) | 0.00 |
| Intravenous immunoglobin | 68 (34.7) | 37 (20.7) | 0.32 | 36 (24.0) | 36 (24.0) | 0.00 |
| Oxygen therapy | 147 (75.0) | 102 (57.0) | 0.39 | 101 (67.3) | 102 (68.0) | 0.02 |
| HFNC | 8 (4.1) | 4 (2.2) | 0.11 | 5 (3.3) | 4 (2.7) | 0.04 |
| NIMV | 39 (19.9) | 22 (12.3) | 0.21 | 21 (14.0) | 22 (14.7) | 0.02 |
| IMV | 9 (4.6) | 7 (3.9) | 0.03 | 6 (4.0) | 7 (4.7) | 0.03 |
| ICU admission | 18 (9.2) | 10 (5.6) | 0.14 | 9 (6.0) | 10 (6.7) | 0.03 |
a
Greedy matching occurred 1:1 on the logit of a propensity score with a caliper of 0.2 SD.
b
SDMs of 0.1 or more represent meaningful difference in covariates between groups before and after matching.
ALT, alanine transaminase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; BMI, body mass index; CD, cluster of differentiation; HFNC, high-flow nasal cannula; ICU, intensive care unit; IL-6, interleukin-6; IMV, invasive mechanical ventilation; IQR, interquartile range; NIMV, non-invasive mechanical ventilation; SDM, standard difference of the mean; WBC, white blood cell.