ArticleKorean journal of family medicine2013
The effect of probiotics on prevention of common cold: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trial studies.
Article in Korean journal of family medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Effectiveness of probiotics on the duration of illness in healthy children and adults who develop common acute respiratory infectious conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The British journal of nutrition · 2014Pooled it
- Enhancing immunity in viral infections, with special emphasis on COVID-19: A review.Diabetes & metabolic syndromePooled it
- Fermented Milk Consumption and Common Infections in Children Attending Day-Care Centers: A Randomized Trial.Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition · 2016Trial
- Role of short-term use of L. acidophilus DDS-1 and B. lactis UABLA-12 in acute respiratory infections in children: a randomized controlled trial.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2016Trial
- The Role of Probiotics and Their Postbiotic Metabolites in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Clinically proven natural products, vitamins and mineral in boosting up immunity: A comprehensive review.Heliyon · 2023Review
- Effects of Probiotics on Clinical Manifestations of Bronchiectasis: A Randomized, Triple Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.Tanaffos · 2023Article
- Probiotics: A gut response to the COVID-19 pandemic but what does the evidence show?Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2022Review
- Association of SARS-CoV-2 and Polypharmacy with Gut-Lung Axis: From Pathogenesis to Treatment.ACS omega · 2022Review
- A randomized double blinded placebo controlled clinical trial for the evaluation of green coffee extract on immune health in healthy adults.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2022Article
- Probiotics for immunomodulation in prevention against respiratory viral infections with special emphasis on COVID-19.AIMS microbiology · 2022Review
- The Role of Mucosal Immunity and Recombinant Probiotics in SARS-CoV2 Vaccine Development.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2021Review
- Probiotics in Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19: Current Perspective and Future Prospects.Archives of medical research · 2021Review
- Dietary Supplements and Nutraceuticals under Investigation for COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment.mSystems · 2021Review
- Herbal immune-boosters: Substantial warriors of pandemic Covid-19 battle.Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology · 2021Review
- Emerging paradigms of viral diseases and paramount role of natural resources as antiviral agents.The Science of the total environment · 2021Review
- Dietary Supplements and Nutraceuticals Under Investigation for COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment.ArXiv · 2021Article
- Food science and COVID-19.Food science and human wellness · 2021Review
- Kidney diseases and COVID-19 infection: causes and effect, supportive therapeutics and nutritional perspectives.Heliyon · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundProbiotics are currently under focus for their immune improvement function. Many studies have been performed to assess the potential efficacy of probiotics in allergic disease, viral disease, respiratory disease, as well as gastrointestinal disease. This study performed a systematic review to determine the effects of probiotics on the prevention of the common cold.
methodsWe searched MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane CENTRAL for studies released through June 2011. Two authors independently extracted the data. To assess the risk of bias of included literatures, Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool was used.
resultsWe identified 10 studies in 7 articles. A total 2,894 participants, 1,588 in the probiotics group and 1,306 in the control group, were included. The effect of probiotics on the prevention of the common cold had a relative risk (RR) of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.85 to 1.00, I(2) = 26%). In the subgroup analysis, the RR of administration of probiotics for 3 months or less was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.70 to 0.97). The RR of administration of probiotics over 3 months was 1.00 (95% CI, 0.92 to 1.09). The RR of administration of probiotics without any active intervention (vitamin and mineral) was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.78 to 0.97).
conclusionIn this meta-analysis, there was marginal effect of probiotics on the prevention of the common cold. The results implied that probiotics had a modest effect in common cold reduction. The balance of benefit and harms needs to be considered when using probiotics for common cold prevention.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.