Internal transcribed spacer sequencing to explore the intrinsic composition of fungal communities in fungal esophagitis

Table 1 The baseline clinical characteristics of the participants

Variables	NC, n = 10	NFE, n = 16	FE, n = 19	P value
Age (years, mean ± SD)	41.80 ± 9.56	54.06 ± 16.62	56.84 ± 18.05	0.06
Gender, n (%)				0.29
Male	6 (60)	5 (31.3)	10 (52.6)
Female	4 (40)	11 (68.7)	9 (47.4)
BMI (kg/m2, mean ± SD)	24.61 ± 2.53	23.97 ± 4.28	23.77 ± 2.48	0.80
Smoker, n (%)	1 (10)	4 (25)	3 (15.8)	0.69
Drinker, n (%)	5 (50)	3 (18.8)	4 (21.1)	0.21
Kodsi grade, n (%)				0.26
I		11 (68.7)	10 (52.6)
II		5 (31.3)	7 (36.9)
III		0 (0)	2 (10.5)
IV		0 (0)	0 (0)

BMI: Body mass index; NC: The esophageal normal control; NFE: Suspected fungal esophagitis; FE: Fungal esophagitis.

Table 2 Comparison of the positive rate between the two diagnostic methods

Groups	Positive, n (%)	Negative, n (%)	Total (n)	χ2	P value
Endoscopy + microscope	19 (54.29)	16 (45.71)	35	8.23	0.008
Endoscopy + ITS	30 (85.71)	5 (14.29)	35

ITS: Internal transcribed spacer.