Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34444674›Full record

ReviewNutrients2021

Gut Microbiota, Probiotic Interventions, and Cognitive Function in the Elderly: A Review of Current Knowledge.

Agata Białecka-Dębek, Dominika Granda, Maria Karolina Szmidt, Dorota Zielińska

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nutrients, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
37citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

37 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Trial
  6. Efficacy and Safety ofNutrients · 2025
    Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Trial
  10. ProbioticNutrients · 2022
    Trial
  11. Review
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Agata Białecka-DębekDepartment of Human Nutrition, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Nowoursynowska 159c, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-7823-7134
Dominika GrandaDepartment of Human Nutrition, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Nowoursynowska 159c, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-5779-4505
Maria Karolina SzmidtDepartment of Human Nutrition, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Nowoursynowska 159c, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland.ORCID 0000-0001-6970-1671
Dorota ZielińskaDepartment of Food Gastronomy and Food Hygiene, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Nowoursynowska 159c, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland.ORCID 0000-0001-7845-1352
Warsaw University of Life Sciences · PL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Changes in the composition and proportions of the gut microbiota may be associated with numerous diseases, including cognitive impairment. Over the recent years, the growing interest in this relation is observed, but there are still many unknowns, especially in the elderly. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that synthesizes and critically evaluates existing evidence on the possible association between human gut microbiota and cognitive function in the elderly. For this purpose, comprehensive literature searches were conducted using the electronic databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect. The gut microbiota of cognitively healthy and impaired elderly people may differ in the diversity and abundance of individual taxes, but specific taxes cannot be identified. However, some tendencies to changing the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio can be identified. Currently, clinical trials involving probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics supplementation have shown that there are premises for the claim that these factors can improve cognitive functions, however there is no single intervention beneficial to the elderly population. More reliable evidence from large-scale, long-period RCT is needed. Despite proposing several potential mechanisms of the gut microbiota's influence on the cognitive function impairment, prospective research on this topic is extremely difficult to conduct due to numerous confounding factors that may affect the gut microbiota. Heterogeneity of research outcomes impairs insight into these relations.

Indexed as

AgedAged, 80 and overAgingBacillotaBacteroidetesCognitionCognitive DysfunctionDietGastrointestinal MicrobiomeHumansPrebioticsProbioticsPrebioticscognitive functioncognitive impairmentgut microbiotamicrobiomeprobioticsthe elderly

Identifiers

PMID34444674
PMCPMC8401879
OpenAlexW3184830345

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.