Electroacupuncture alleviates symptoms and identifies a potential microbial biomarker in patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

Table 2 The comparison in clinical parameters, serum biomarkers and autonomic nervous systems parameters between healthy controls and patients with irritable bowel syndrome with predominant constipation

Characteristic	Control (n = 16)	IBS-C (n = 16)	P value
Clinical score
IBS-SSS score	25.94 ± 34.31	251.19 ± 57.19	< 0.0001
IBS-QoL	40.75 ± 7.66	88.81 ± 17.21	< 0.0001
Memory assessment
MoCA	25.50 ± 3.05	25.62 ± 2.47	0.899
MMSE	25.81 ± 2.64	26.75 ± 1.69	0.241
Emotional assessment
Anxiety	6.25 ± 3.19	8.87 ± 3.95	0.047
Depression	3.62 ± 2.94	4.56 ± 2.39	0.331
Laboratory
Cortisol level (μg/dL)	8.25 (7.04-9.32)	10.90 (8.92-16.05)	0.018
MDA level (nmol/mL)	393.59 ± 127.89	377.17 ± 86.57	0.670
Serotonin level (μg/dL)	0.80 (0.43-3.49)	1.45 (0.51-3.14)	0.555
Heart rate variability
LF	22.97 ± 11.89	23.15 ± 5.38	0.958
HF	11.03 (7.68-17.75)	14.38 (10.33-19.91)	0.112
LF/HF	1.75 (1.43-2.08)	1.48 (1.24-1.53)	0.153

Data are presented as mean ± SD for parametric variables (numerical data), and median (IQR) for non-parametric variables. The groups were compared using Student’s t-test or Mann-Whitney U test or χ² test as appropriate. HF: High frequency; IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome; IBS-SSS: Irritable bowel syndrome symptom severity scale scores; IBS-QoL: Irritable bowel syndrome quality of life; LF: Low frequency; MoCA: Montreal Cognitive Assessment; MMSE: Mini-Mental State Examination; HADs: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; MDA: Malondialdehyde.