[A meta-analysis of probiotics for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy of probiotics to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

METHODS

Publications from database including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data were searched up to August 31, 2014. The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on probiotics to treat IBS were eligible. The related articles were extracted and cross-checked independently by two reviewers. Methodological quality of trials was evaluated according to Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0 criteria. Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.2 software.

RESULTS

A total of 17 RCTs involving 1 700 patients were included. Results of meta-analyses showed that compared with the placebo, probiotics was statistically better in improving the overall symptoms integral (SMD = -0.20, 95% CI -0.33--0.07, P = 0.002), alleviating abdominal pain/discomfort (SMD = -0.19, 95% CI -0.29--0.09, P<0.001), relieving abdominal distention (SMD = -0.16, 95% CI -0.28--0.03, P = 0.020), and defecation discomfort (SMD = -0.22, 95% CI -0.42--0.02, P = 0.030). There was no statistical significance in the overall quality of life (SMD = -0.08, 95% CI -0.07-0.23, P = 0.290) and adverse effect ratio (RR = 1.08, 95% CI 0.79-1.49, P = 0.630).

CONCLUSION

Probiotics have beneficial effects on IBS, which can improve the patients' symptoms and with less adverse reaction. Due to the bias, further large-scale, multicenter and high-quality RCTs are required to unify outcome indicators, further define sensitive strain, and standardize its usage, dosage and course of treatment.