SynthesisEuropean journal of clinical nutrition2019
Effects of prebiotics on sepsis, necrotizing enterocolitis, mortality, feeding intolerance, time to full enteral feeding, length of hospital stay, and stool frequency in preterm infants: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in European journal of clinical nutrition, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative efficacy of different single drugs to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants: an update systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Synbiotics to prevent necrotising enterocolitis in very preterm or very low birth weight infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Enteral Feeding Interventions in the Prevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A Systematic Review of Experimental and Clinical Studies.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Macrolides for the prevention and treatment of feeding intolerance in preterm low birth weight infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of pediatrics · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Nutritional interventions to reduce rates of infection, necrotizing enterocolitis and mortality in very preterm infants.Pediatric research · 2020Pooled it
- Efficacy of dexmedetomidine for treatment of patients with sepsis: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Necrotizing enterocolitis.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026Review
- Narrative review on microbiota and sepsis: the host's betrayal?Internal and emergency medicine · 2026Review
- Bacterial and fungal infections in infants born before 24 weeks' gestation: a review.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Review
- Pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis: mechanisms and mediators.World journal of pediatric surgery · 2026Review
- The microbiome's hidden influence: preclinical insights into inflammatory responses in necrotizing enterocolitis.Seminars in immunopathology · 2025Review
- Feasibility, Safety, and Impact of the Probiotics Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis in Papua New Guinean Infants: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Opportunities for microbiome-based therapeutics in preterm infants.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
- The Interplay Between Nutrition and Microbiota and the Role of Probiotics and Symbiotics in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Gut Microbiota Metabolites Targeting the Immune Response in Sepsis: Mechanisms and Therapies.International journal of general medicine · 2025Review
- Article
- The Influence of Premature Birth on the Development of Pulmonary Diseases: Focus on the Microbiome.Metabolites · 2024Review
- Necrotizing Enterocolitis and the Preterm Infant Microbiome.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesPrebiotics are increasingly recognized as an effective measure to promote health and prevent adverse health outcomes in preterm infants. We aimed to systematically review the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in this area. SUBJECTS/
methodsRelevant studies from January 2000 to June 2018 were searched and selected from PubMed, Medline, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library. RCTs were included if they involved preterm infant participants, included a prebiotic intervention group, measured incidence of sepsis, feeding intolerance, mortality, time to full enteral feeding, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), length of hospital stay, and stool frequency as outcomes.
resultsEighteen RCTs (n = 1322) were included in the final meta-analysis. Participants who took prebiotics showed significant decreases in the incidence of sepsis (with a risk ratio (RR) of 0.64, 95% CI: 0.51, 0.78), mortality (RR = 0.58. 95% CI: 0.36, 0.94), length of hospital stay (mean difference (MD): -5.18, 95% CI: -8.94, -1.11), and time to full enteral feeding (MD: -0.99, 95% CI: -1.15, 0.83). The pooled effects showed no significant differences between intervention and control groups in relation to the morbidity rate of NEC (RR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.44, 1.44) or feeding intolerance (RR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.52, 1.45).
conclusionsThe results showed that the use of prebiotics with preterm infants is safe and can decrease the incidence of sepsis, mortality, length of hospital stay, and time to full enteral feeding but not NEC.
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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.