Table 1.
Characteristics of infants used for analysis of the serum metabolome and the fecal microbiome.
| Variable | Group | BF | F19 | SF | P-value BF vs F19 vs SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total n | Metabolome | 42 | 41 | 40 | - |
| Microbiome | 37 | 43 | 41 | - | |
| Region (B/N/S) | Metabolome | 13/17/12 | 9/16/16 | 8/14/18 | 0.590 |
| Microbiome | 11/17/9 | 7/19/17 | 9/15/17 | 0.403 | |
| Sex %F | Metabolome | 52a | 48a | 65b | 0.035* |
| Microbiome | 51a | 51a | 68b | 0.018* | |
| Delivery mode % Vaginal | Metabolome | 67a | 49b | 38b | <0.001* |
| Microbiome | 65a | 53a | 32b | <0.001* | |
| Birthweight (mean ± SEM) | Metabolome | 3,322 ± 50 | 3,397 ± 65 | 3,276 ± 56 | 0.487 |
| Microbiome | 3,313 ± 44 | 3,416 ± 58 | 3,253 ± 55 | 0.397 | |
| Antibiotic use (1–4 months) | Metabolome | 2 | 4 | 7 | 0.157 |
| Microbiome | Excluded | Excluded | Excluded | - | |
| Antibiotic use (4–8 months) | Metabolome | 7 | 14 | 12 | 0.160 |
| Microbiome | 5 | 14 | 13 | 0.103 | |
| Diarrhea (1–4 months) | Metabolome | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0.057 |
| Microbiome | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0.056 | |
| Diarrhea (4–8 months) | Metabolome | 4 | 7 | 9 | 0.286 |
| Microbiome | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0.682 |
Significance was tested by FDR-corrected one-way ANOVA of log-transformed values for the birth weight (g) and by Pearson's Chi-squared test with simulated p-value (based on 2,000 replicates to increase the sample size) for all the other variables. When significance was found (*p<0.05), pair-wise comparisons were performed.
Region: B, Beijing; N, Nanjing; S, Shanghai.
Superscript letters indicate significance differences between groups (FDR p < 0.05).