Background
Previous studies have suggested that the consumption of probiotic fermented dairy products (PFDP) may have a protective effect on respiratory tract infections (RTIs). However, the results of studies are inconclusive. We aimed to systematically investigate the effect of PFDP on RTIs by performing a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Methods
PubMed and Scopus databases were systematically searched up to October 2020 to identify eligible RCTs. Meta-analysis outcomes were risk of incidence of upper (URTIs ) and lower (LRTIs ) respiratory tract infections. A random-effects model was used to pool the relative risks (RR) and corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for outcomes following conception of PFDP.
Results
A total of 22 RCTs, with a total sample size of 10,190 participants, were included in this meta-analysis. Compared with placebo, consumption of PFDP had a significant protective effect against RTIs in the overall analysis (RR = 0.81, 95 %CI: 0.74 to 0.89) and in children (RR = 0.82, 95 %CI: 0.73 to 0.93), adults (RR = 0.81, 95 %CI: 0.66 to 1.00), and elderly population (RR = 0.78, 95 %CI: 0.61 to 0.98). The significant decreased risk of RTIs was also observed for URTIs (RR = 0.83, 95 %CI: 0.73 to 0.93), while, this effect was marginal for LRTIs (RR = 0.78, 95 %CI: 0.60 to 1.01, P = 0.06). The disease-specific analysis showed that PFDP have a protective effect on pneumonia (RR = 0.76, 95 %CI: 0.61 to 0.95) and common cold (RR = 0.68, 95 %CI: 0.49 to 0.96).
Conclusions
Consumption of PFDP is a potential dietary approach for the prevention of RTIs.
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease, which primarily engages the skin and affects approximately 2-4% of the general population; the pathogenesis of psoriasis involves interplay between environmental and genetic risk factors. 1,2 About 6% to 42% of people with psoriasis develop an inflammatory form of osteoarthritis called psoriatic arthritis (PsA). 3 This condition causes the joints to become swollen, painful and tender to the touch, but, disorders of the peripheral joint inflammation, axial skeleton, enthesitis, tenosynovitis, nail changes and dactylitis are also common in this disease. [4][5][6] It has been theorised that psoriatic/PsA may be associated with osteopenia that may lead to bone loss ending up with osteoporosis (OP). 7,8
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