Effectiveness of probiotics in irritable bowel syndrome: Updated systematic review with meta-analysis

Abstract

Probiotics reduce pain and symptom severity scores. The results demonstrate the beneficial effects of probiotics in IBS patients in comparison with placebo.

Probiotic Therapy of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Why Is the Evidence Still Poor and What Can Be Done About It?

“…Taking into account only the studies on our list and in at least one of the other analyses, overall agreement was low, as can be seen in Figure 2: only 5 RCTs from all 56 were included in all 7 previous analyses (unless the analyses restricted their timeframe, as in 28 ) as well as in ours. Seven RCTs were exclusively analysed by the largest study 26 and our analysis added another 20 studies to the list.…”

“…Step 2: we identified 10 meta-analyses and systematic reviews (published between 2008 and 2015) related to probiotic trials in IBS, [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]28 reporting a total of 44 RCTs with variable number of trials in each of them that increased over the years. One "systematic review" of complementary and alternative therapies in IBS was not comprehensive at all for IBS probiotic trials 18 ; it included only 4 studies that were also analysed and discussed in all other reviews.…”

“…A later meta-analysis covering data published between 2007 and 2013, which included only 14 RCTs, found probiotics to have a positive effect on abdominal pain only. 28 The initial idea of our project was a meta-analysis on the efficacy of probiotics in the management of IBS. However, after the initial search and data extraction (see Methods below), we concluded that the current data did not allow a methodologically sound meta-analysis to be performed.…”

Uso de probióticos en síndrome de intestino irritable y enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal: una revisión de la literatura

“…No existe un tratamiento curativo y las opciones disponibles, que son paliativas y de soporte, están dirigidas al tratamiento de síntomas específicos que combinan los abordajes farmacológico, psicológico y dietético (6). Se ha observado que el tratamiento con probióticos, especialmente lactobacilos y bifidobacterias, disminuye el dolor abdominal y resulta en una mejoría global de los síntomas al restaurar el balance de la microflora intestinal, por su capacidad de unión al epitelio intestinal y producción de sustancias que inhiben la adhesión e invasión de microorganismos patógenos (6,7).…”

“…Se ha observado que el tratamiento con probióticos, especialmente lactobacilos y bifidobacterias, disminuye el dolor abdominal y resulta en una mejoría global de los síntomas al restaurar el balance de la microflora intestinal, por su capacidad de unión al epitelio intestinal y producción de sustancias que inhiben la adhesión e invasión de microorganismos patógenos (6,7).…”