Table 2.
Characteristics of the fecal microbiome stratified by mortality
| Alive | Deceased | p | |
|---|---|---|---|
| n | 39 | 32 | |
| Microbiological characteristics | |||
| Diversity: (median [IQR]) | |||
| Inverse Simpson | 10.77 [7.53, 18.05] | 10.80 [5.74, 20.70] | 0.931 |
| Relative abundance: (% of group) | |||
| Proteobacteria domination | 9 (23.1) | 16 (50.0) | 0.035 |
| Enterococcus domination | 3 (7.7) | 3 (9.4) | 1 |
| Metabolites: (median [IQR]) | |||
| Desaminotyrosine (µM) | 28.10 [22.74, 46.94] | 22.63 [21.00, 32.30] | 0.028 |
| Lithocholic acid (µg/mL) | 61.61 [4.30, 252.61] | 9.76 [0.24, 60.07] | 0.008 |
| Deoxycholic acid (µg/mL) | 74.09 [18.61, 246.34] | 10.68 [0.49, 62.50] | 0.003 |
| Isodeoxycholic acid (µg/mL) | 7.60 [0.70, 25.09] | 2.89 [0.06, 10.93] | 0.038 |
| Cholic acid (µg/mL) | 16.21 [1.48, 215.59] | 7.92 [0.79, 88.15] | 0.214 |
| Glycocholic acid (µg/mL) | 0.43 [0.18, 2.83] | 0.45 [0.03, 11.78] | 0.511 |
| 3-oxolithocholic acid (µg/mL) | 4.71 [0.64, 54.90] | 1.88 [0.06, 14.03] | 0.086 |
| Alloisolithocholic acid (µg/mL | 0.44 [0.00, 2.79] | 0.20 [0.00, 6.18] | 0.482 |
| Taurocholic acid (µg/mL) | 0.55 [0.22, 2.23] | 0.30 [0.08, 24.06] | 0.391 |
| Butyrate (mM) | 0.51 [0.20, 2.39] | 0.29 [0.06, 0.97] | 0.286 |
| Propionate (mM) | 1.55 [0.47, 4.94] | 0.75 [0.19, 1.62] | 0.169 |
| Acetate (mM) | 3.87 [2.29, 20.44] | 3.13 [1.17, 11.23] | 0.175 |
| Succinate (mM) | 0.59 [0.26, 1.58] | 0.50 [0.18, 1.38] | 0.431 |
| Microbiome metabolic profile (median [IQR]) | 1.00 [0.00, 2.00] | 2.00 [1.00–4.00] | <0.001 |
Categorical variables were compared using a two-tailed, chi-squared test, while continuous variables were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum, two-tailed test (n = 71 independent samples from patients). Unadjusted p-values are presented as exact values.