Statistical analysis
FUNCTIONAL CONSTIPATION
Assuming that the treatment effect is expected to be equivalent to that of a previous study that investigated the efficacy of a traditional Japanese medicine in improving functional constipation (Once the data collection was completed, all data were fixed before the code-breaking. The primary end point was the difference in the changes from baseline in the CSS total score between the 2 groups at week 4. The changes from baseline were compared between the probiotic and placebo groups using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Moreover, the intragroup changes in the values between the baseline and after intervention were tested using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The statistical analysis was performed using SAS software version 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) for the gastrointestinal data and R software ver. 3.6.0 for the gut microbiota data, with significance set at 