益生菌食用習慣與感染嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎（COVID-19）之相關性調查

Correlation Analysis Between Probiotics Consumption Habits and Coronavirus Disease

目的
本研究欲透過問卷調查形式蒐集國人於COVID-19疫情期間，益生菌產品之食用習慣與感染COVID-19之相關性。
方法
透過網路電子問卷表單，蒐集共6,189位國人對益生菌之食用習慣、產品種類劑型嗜好、食用頻率及年齡分布，並與疫情期間確診與否、染疫康復速度及染疫後嚴重程度做出比較。
結果
回收的6,189份問卷中，有效問卷6,188份，無效問卷1份。有效問卷中，受訪者年齡層集中在31-60歲，共占比80％；有食用益生菌族群占比78.51％，其中31-60歲共占比82％；有78.83％習慣僅食用單一種類劑型產品，劑型選擇上則以顆粒／粉劑占比最高為70.27％；食用益生菌頻率部分，有30.38％的受訪者每月食用30次以上，占比最多。進一步調查與COVID-19染疫情形，食用益生菌族群確診比率（49.86％）略高於未食用者（42.78％），但前者確診後無症狀比率略高於後者，中重症比率亦低於後者。食用者有較高比率在確診後康復天數較短；食用頻率則與染疫與否以及染疫後症狀無相關趨勢，但染疫後3天內可康復者則以每月食用頻率30次以上族群者占比最高，無食用者占比最低；康復時間較長者則以無食用者占比最高，每月食用頻率30次以上者占比最低；食用者在高年齡層（≧50歲）之感染率明顯低於未感染者，小於50歲之各組則呈現相反的情形，染疫率大於未染疫率。
結論
整體而言，食用益生菌與染疫與否沒有相關聯，但有助於減低染疫後中重症發生機率，並有助於縮短病程康復期。

Purposes
A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among Taiwanese people to examine the correlation between probiotics consumption habits and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the pandemic.
Methods
Electronic questionnaires were administered to 6,189 Taiwanese individuals to collect data regarding their probiotics consumption habits, preferences for product types and dosage forms, consumption frequency, and age distribution. Subsequently, we compared the rate of confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, recovery rate, and disease severity between those consuming and not consuming probiotics.
Results
The 6,189 questionnaires comprised 6,188 valid questionnaires and 1 invalid questionnaire, and 80% of the valid questionnaire respondents belonged to the 31-60 years age group. Moreover, 78.51% of respondents consumed probiotics, and most of them were aged 31-60 years (82%); 78.83% of respondents regularly consumed only one type of dosage form, and granules/powders were the most popular choice (70.27%). Regarding consumption frequency, 30.38% of valid respondents consumed probiotics >30 times/month, accounting for the largest proportion. Further COVID-19-related investigations revealed that the rate of confirmed diagnosis was slightly higher in individuals who consumed probiotics (49.86%) than in those who did not (42.78%); however, the former group showed a higher asymptomatic infection rate, higher recovery rate, lower incidence of moderate to severe disease , and shorter recovery period as compared to the latter group. Consumption frequency was not associated with the presence of infection or post-infection symptoms. However, among individuals who recovered within 3 days post-infection, those consuming probiotics >30 times/month accounted for the highest proportion, whereas those not consuming probiotics accounted for the lowest proportion. Among individuals with a long recovery period, those who did not consume probiotics accounted for the highest proportion, whereas those who consumed probiotics >30 times/month accounted for the highest proportion, whereas those not consuming probiotics accounted for the lowest proportion. Among individuals with a long recovery period, those who did not consume probiotics accounted for the highest proportion, whereas those who consumed probiotics >30 times/month accounted for the lowest proportion. Among individuals aged≧50 years, those who consumed probiotics had a significantly lower infection rate than those who did not. Conversely, in individuals aged <50 years, those who consumed probiotics had a higher infection rate than those who did not.
Conclusions
In conclusion, although probiotics consumption was not associated with the presence of infection, it helped to reduce the likelihood of moderate to severe disease after infection and facilitated a shorter recovery period.