SEARCHSYSTEMATIC_REVIEWgastroenterology, infectious disease

systematic_review·gastroenterology, infectious disease, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, systematic review·PMC10016009

What do Cochrane systematic reviews say about probiotics as preventive interventions?

São Paulo Medical Journal · 5 authors, 4 centres

AI SUMMARY

FIDELITY 100%

This summary was generated by AI from a single paper. It has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not clinical advice. Verify against the source before acting on it.

AGENT 01 · STRUCTURED SUMMARY

TRACE TO SOURCE

“

TL;DR

No high-quality evidence was found for any outcome.

Full summary

194 CHARS

No high-quality evidence was found for any outcome. Limitations included single-database searching, heterogeneity of probiotic strains precluding meta-analysis, small sample sizes, and RCT bias.

STUDY TYPE

systematic_review

SPECIALTY

gastroenterology

SUMMARISED BY

AI pipeline

FIDELITY CHECK

100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10016009

What do Cochrane systematic reviews say about probiotics as preventive interventions?

São Paulo Medical Journal

READ THE FULL PAPER

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Probiotics have been used for a range of clinical situations and their use is strongly encouraged by the media worldwide. This study identified and summarized all Cochrane systematic reviews about the preventive effects of probiotics in clinical practice. DESIGN AND SETTING: Review of systematic reviews, conducted in the Discipline of Evidence-Based Medicine, Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM), Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp). METHODS: We included all Cochrane reviews on any probiotics when they were used as preventive interventions and compared with no intervention, placebo or any other pharmacological or non-pharmacological intervention. RESULTS: 17 Cochrane systematic reviews fulfilled our inclusion criteria and were summarized in this report. None of the reviews included in the present study provided high-quality evidence for any outcome. The benefits from use of probiotics included decreased incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and Clostridium difficile -associated diarrhea; decreased incidence of upper respiratory tract infections and duration of episodes; decreased need for antibiotics and absences from school due to colds; and decreased incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Probiotics seem to decrease the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus, birthweight, risk of vaginal infection and incidence of eczema. CONCLUSION: Despite the marketing and the benefits associated with probiotics, there is little scientific evidence supporting the use of probiotics. None of the reviews provided any high-quality evidence for prevention of illnesses through use of probiotics. More trials are needed to gain better knowledge of probiotics and to confirm when their use is beneficial and cost-effective.

CITATION EXPORT

Vinícius Lopes Braga, Luana Pompeu dos Santos Rocha, Daniel Damasceno Bernardo et al.. What do Cochrane systematic reviews say about probiotics as preventive interventions?. São Paulo Medical Journal. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-3180.2017.0310241017

AUTHORS

5 · 4 CENTRES

Vinícius Lopes Braga, Luana Pompeu dos Santos Rocha, Daniel Damasceno Bernardo, Carolina de Oliveira Cruz, Rachel Riera

I Undergraduate Medical Student, Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM), Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo (SP), Brazil
II Undergraduate Medical Students, Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM), Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo (SP), Brazil.
III MD, MSc. Psychologist, Postgraduate Student, Evidence-Based Health Program, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp), and Assistant Researcher, Cochrane Brazil, São Paulo (SP), Brazil
IV MD, PhD. Rheumatologist, Adjunct Professor, Discipline of Evidence-Based Medicine, Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM), Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp), and Assistant Coordinator, Cochrane Brazil, São Paulo (SP), Brazil