ArticleExperimental and therapeutic medicine2020
Treating vaginitis with probiotics in non-pregnant females: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Article in Experimental and therapeutic medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 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
22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- The efficacy and safety of current treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Probiotics, a promising therapy to reduce the recurrence of bacterial vaginosis in women? a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- Efficacy of Dequalinium Chloride vs Metronidazole for the Treatment of Bacterial Vaginosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Protective effects of cell-free supernatants from a kefir-derived microbial consortium against multidrug-resistant Candida glabrata associated with vulvovaginal candidiasis.Medical mycology · 2026Article
- From Identification to Resistance: Contemporary Insights into Candida Species Causing Vaginitis.Cureus · 2026Review
- Strain-specific qPCR assay to track the vaginal colonization of the probiotic Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus TOM 22.8 strain orally administered.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- Probiotics in the Management of Vulvovaginal Candidosis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Exploring Oral and Vaginal Probiotic Solutions for Women's Health from Puberty to Menopause: A Narrative Review.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Simultaneous application of oral and intravaginal probiotics for Helicobacter pylori and its antibiotic-therapy-induced vaginal dysbacteriosis.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2024Review
- Shaping Microbiota During the First 1000 Days of Life.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Review
- In Vitro Assessment of Lactobacillus crispatus UBLCp01, Lactobacillus gasseri UBLG36, and Lactobacillus johnsonii UBLJ01 as a Potential Vaginal Probiotic Candidate.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2023Article
- Lactobacilli and Their Probiotic Effects in the Vagina of Reproductive Age Women.Microorganisms · 2023Review
- Antibiotics therapy combined with probiotics administered intravaginally for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Open medicine (Warsaw, Poland) · 2023Article
- Microbial Diversity and Pathogenic Properties of Microbiota Associated with Aerobic Vaginitis in Women with Recurrent Pregnancy Loss.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus, and L. reuteri Cell-Free Supernatants Inhibit Candida parapsilosis Pathogenic Potential upon Infection of Vaginal Epithelial Cells Monolayer and in a Transwell Coculture SystemMicrobiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Healthy Vaginal Microbiota and Influence of Probiotics Across the Female Life Span.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
- The Antibiofilm Role of Biotics Family in Vaginal Fungal Infections.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
- The role of probiotics in vaginal health.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Vaginitis, also known as vulvovaginitis, is an inflammation of the vagina and vulva and a common disease in females. It is thought to be caused by vaginal dysbiosis and improved by probiotics. Bacterial vaginosis (BV) and vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) are the major types of vaginal infections. The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to clarify the efficacy of probiotics in the treatment of common vaginal infections in non-pregnant females. Literature on randomized controlled trials and two-armed prospective studies on any intervention with probiotics published until December 24th, 2018 was searched in the PubMed, Cochrane and EMBASE databases. The outcomes of interest were recurrence rate, cure rate, remission rate and normal vaginal flora restoration. Finally, a total of 30 studies on bacterial vaginosis (BV) and/or VVC were included and stratified into 3 study types based on treatment design as follows: Type I, antibiotic/probiotics vs. antibiotics/antifungals (22 studies); Type II, probiotics vs. placebo (5 studies); Type III, probiotics vs. antibiotics (3 studies). The type I studies comprised 1,788 non-pregnant females and had the highest inter-study comparability in post-treatment follow-up design and meta-analysis outcome data. Probiotics interventions were significantly associated with a lower recurrence rate of vaginitis [pooled odds ratio (OR)=0.27, 95% CI: 0.18-0.41, P<0.001] and higher cure/remission rate (pooled OR=2.28, 95% CI: 1.20-4.32, P=0.011). However, a significant increase in normal vaginal flora after probiotic treatment was observed only in BV (pooled OR=4.55, 95% CI: 1.44-14.35, P=0.01). In addition, supportive but heterogeneous results were obtained from the 6-month follow-up data of Type-I studies, different infection types and supplementary analysis of Type-II studies. In conclusion, probiotics have a significant short-term effect in the treatment of common vaginal infections in non-pregnant females. In order to evaluate the long-term effects of probiotics in common vaginal infections, it is worthwhile to perform higher-quality clinical trials in the future.
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.