A reader asked me to compared her latest sample to her prior samples. Comparing samples can be time consuming and complex, so I revisited my past comparisons posts and created a table that saves time and add clarity.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-24-1024x478.png)
Bacteria Report
- Lab Read Quality indicates the numbers of bacteria that the lab obtained. In this case, the quality of the samples were similar
- This impacts Bacteria Reported. In this case 1/14 less, and the bacteria count is about 1/14 less. If there was a severe change, then we wish to understand why
- Bacteria Over/Under: Between samples we would like them to be reduced (less extremes). If lab quality goes down or up a lot, then the numbers may need to be adjusted for comparison.
- We see more than a 1/14 drop, which indicates a better microbiome.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-25.png)
Lab Relatives
If both labs were done with the same provider, then this section will appear. In this case we see that rarely seen bacteria goes down – a good sign.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-26.png)
Foreign Criteria
This applies various foreign criteria to the samples. The increase of pathogen is a potential concern. I tend not to focus on pathogens because the source data usually report “higher” or “lower” only.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-27.png)
Microbiome Prescription Criteria
This reports on the main approaches used for generating consensus suggestions. All of them indicate little change except KM which suggests improvement.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-28.png)
PubMed Conditions
This uses the literature from the US National Library of Medicine to estimate likelihood of having various conditions. It is a fuzzy estimate due to the what the studies report. In this case we see good improvement across the board.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-29.png)
KEGG Criteria
As above, we want to reduce extreme values (represented by high and low percentiles). What we see below is very significant improvement across the board.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-30.png)
Bottom Line
The above are the list of my first go-to items comparing samples. If someone has followed the suggestions from Dr.A.I. between samples (or done other things), it give a quantification of the changes that occur across multiple dimensions.
In this case, we see significant improvement over a few months! It should be noted that the various external criteria show no apparent changes, the deeper dive that Microbiome Prescription does show significant positive changes.
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