Efficacy of probiotics or synbiotics in critically ill patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This latest systematic review and meta-analysis aim to examine the effects of probiotic and synbiotic supplementation in critically ill patients.

Relevant articles were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Database, and the Web of Science. The primary output measure was the incident of ventilator-associated pneumonia, and the secondary outputs were diarrhea, Clostridium diffusion infection (CDI), incident of sepsis, incident of hospital acquired pneumonia, duration of mechanical exploitation, ICU mortality rate, length of ICU stay, in hospital mortality, and length of hospital stay. Data were pooled and expressed as Relative Risk(RR) and Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) with a 95 % confidence interval (CI).

33 studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis, with 4065 patients who received probiotics or synbiotics (treatment group) and 3821 patients who received standard care or placebo (control group). The pooled data from all included studies demonstrated that the treatment group has significantly reduced incidence of ventilation-associated pneumonia (VAP) (RR = 0.80; 95 % CI: 0.67-0.96; p = 0.021, I² = 52.5 %) and sepsis (RR = 0.97; 95 % CI: 0.66-1.42; p = 0.032, I² = 54.4 %), As well as significantly increased duration of mechanical exploitation (SMD = -0.47; 95 % CI: -0.74-0.20, p = 0.012, I² = 63.4 %), ICU mobility (RR = 0.95; 95 % CI: 0.71-1.27; p = 0.004, I² = 62.8 %), length of ICU stay (SMD = -0.29; 95 % CI: -0.58-0.01; p = 0.000, I² = 82.3 %) and length of hospital stay (SMD = -0.33; 95 % CI: -0.57-0.08, p = 0.000, I² = 74.2 %) than the control group. There were no significant differences in diarrhea, CDI, incidence of hospital acquired pneumonia, and in hospital mortality between the two groups.

Our meta-analysis showed that probiotic and synbiotic supplements are beneficial for critically ill patients as they significantly reduce the incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia and sepsis, as well as the duration of mechanical exploitation, length of hospital stay, length of ICU stay, and ICU mortality. However, this intervention has minimal impact on diarrhea, CDI, incidence of hospital acquired pneumonia, and in hospital mortality in critically ill patients.