Ozen Metehan, Kocabas Sandal Gonca, Dinleyici Ener Cagri
Department of Pediatrics, Acibadem University Faculty of Medicine , Istanbul , Turkey.
Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2015 Jan;15(1):9-20. doi: 10.1517/14712598.2015.980233. Epub 2014 Nov 28.
Acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) contribute substantially to pediatric morbidity and mortality worldwide. Prevention of these infections in childhood is a very important public health challenge. Previous systematic reviews, including both adult and childhood populations, have reported that probiotics seem promising, but with modest evidence. This study aimed to focus on prophylactic probiotic use in the prevention of URTIs in childhood.
Relevant trials on two databases were identified in a systematic review, from inception to June 2014. Study selection, data extraction and quality assessment were carried out by two reviewers. In this review, the effects of probiotics, particularly the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, on the incidence and symptom scores of URTI in otherwise healthy children were evaluated for the first time. This review comprises 14 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) applied to a pediatric population with high-quality methodology.
This systematic review suggests that probiotics in immunocompetent children have a modest effect both in diminishing the incidence of URTIs and the severity of the infection symptoms.
At least one beneficial effect of prophylactic probiotic was observed in the majority of RCTs. Even a minimal reduction of 5 - 10% in the incidence of URTIs would have an important clinical and economic mpact on societies. Furthermore, the long-term administration of probiotics appeared to have a good safety profile in childhood and none of the studies reported any serious adverse events related to the probiotic strain.
急性上呼吸道感染（URTIs）在全球范围内对儿童的发病率和死亡率有重大影响。预防儿童期这些感染是一项非常重要的公共卫生挑战。先前包括成人和儿童人群的系统评价报告称，益生菌似乎有前景，但证据有限。本研究旨在聚焦预防性使用益生菌预防儿童期URTIs。
在一项系统评价中，检索了两个数据库从建库至2014年6月的相关试验。由两名评价者进行研究选择、数据提取和质量评估。在本评价中，首次评估了益生菌，特别是乳酸杆菌和双歧杆菌菌株对健康儿童URTI发病率和症状评分的影响。本评价包括14项应用于儿科人群的高质量方法的随机对照试验（RCTs）。
本系统评价表明，免疫功能正常儿童使用益生菌在降低URTIs发病率和感染症状严重程度方面有一定作用。
在大多数RCTs中观察到预防性使用益生菌至少有一项有益效果。即使URTIs发病率仅最小程度降低5 - 10%，也会对社会产生重要的临床和经济影响。此外，益生菌的长期使用在儿童期似乎具有良好的安全性，且没有研究报告任何与益生菌菌株相关的严重不良事件。
