Microbiome-Directed Therapy for Fatigue in Quiescent Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled...

Fatigue is a challenging symptom for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Emerging evidence links alterations in the gut microbiome with fatigue in IBD, highlighting the potential of microbiome-targeted treatments. Our aim was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and biological effects of a multistrain probiotic supplementation on fatigue in patients with quiescent IBD.

This multicenter, placebo-controlled, randomized controlled trial included patients with quiescent IBD, defined as being in clinical remission and a colonoscopy within 1 year which demonstrated no active disease, and with significant fatigue (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue score ≤43). Patients were randomized to receive either probiotics (Ecologic BARRIER, containing 9 different bacterial strains) or placebo for 12 weeks. Gut microbiome and serum metabolome were analyzed at baseline and at the end of the study.

Our study enrolled 100 patients (52 Crohn's disease, 44 ulcerative colitis, 4 IBD-unspecified) with quiescent IBD and with a mean age of 41 years; 61% were women. After 12 weeks, 29.4% of the probiotic group and 40.0% of the placebo group met criteria for no fatigue ( P = 0.34). However, all participants reported an improvement in fatigue ( P < 0.001) with the most striking change noted at 4 weeks in both groups. Probiotic treatment led to beneficial shifts in gut microbiome and serum metabolome composition, particularly an increase in Bifidobacterium animalis after 12 weeks.

Although 12 weeks of probiotic administration was not associated with relief of fatigue in patients with quiescent IBD, we observed beneficial alterations in the gut microbiome and serum metabolome.