Meta-analyses of the effect of probiotics in prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea in children

Abstract：Objective Application of antibiotics in children was widespread. The most common side effect is a response to the gastrointestinal tract. Diarrhea is a direct response to the performance of the side effect. It is a controversy that whether probiotics could be routinely used in prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea when antibiotics treatment is used. To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of probiotics in preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) in children. Methods A comprehensive search was performed in the web databases from the Database building time to 2009-06-31, including Medline (PubMed as a search tool) , Ovid, Web of Science, Embase Cochrane Library, Chinese Biological Medicine Database, National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) of China and Chongqing VIP Database. Manual search was also performed. Meta analysis was performed in all homogeneous data. Results Eight randomized control trials (RCT) met the inclusion criteria. All the RCTs had no heterogeneity difference by Q test. The fixed effect model was used in statistical analysis. The summary result showed the significant benefit for use of probiotics compared with control group; RR (relative risk) = 0.36, 95%CI: 0.27-0.48, NNT (number needed to treat) = 6.37, 95% CI: 5.06-8.03. Conclusion Probiotics can reduce antibiotic-associated diarrhea in pediatrics to a certain extent. This review also shows the moderate beneficial effect of routine use of probiotics while receiving antibiotics. And there is no report of adverse reactions. But more RCTs need to be included for analysis in the future when systematically assessing the specific effects of one certain kind of probiotics.