ArticleTranslational pediatrics2021
Efficacy of probiotics in the treatment of acute diarrhea in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials.
Article in Translational pediatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 4 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
22 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Probiotics for pediatric diarrhea and constipation: an umbrella meta-analysis.BMC pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- The effect of probiotics on the diarrhea and constipation outcomes in children: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of probiotics for treatment of acute or persistent diarrhoea in children from birth till 10 years: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2024Pooled it
- The role of probiotics in nutritional intake and clinical outcomes of critically Ill children with severe sepsis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Adjudicative efficacy of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80 in treating acute diarrhea in children: a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2024Trial
- Gut microbiome dynamics in acute infectious diarrhea: A conceptual framework from acute dysbiosis toward precision restoration (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Review
- New Drugs on the Block: Dietary Management and Nutritional Considerations During the Use of Anti-Obesity Medication.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Extracellular Vesicles from Probiotic and BeneficialPharmaceutics · 2026Article
- Review
- Development and Psychometric Properties of the Diarrhea Management Scale for Mothers (DiMaM).Maternal and child health journal · 2025Article
- Evaluation of publication bias in the assessment of probiotic treatment for gastrointestinal disease in dogs and cats.The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne · 2025Article
- The Effect of the Combination of Probiotics and Heavy Metals From Various Aspects in Humans: A Systematic Review of Clinical Trial Studies.Health science reports · 2025Review
- Probiotics and human health: biological activities, nutritional aspects, immunomodulatory properties, applications, and future perspectives - a comprehensive review.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Assessing the Impact of Probiotic Consumption on Gastrointestinal Health in Saudi Arabia: a Cross-Sectional Study.Materia socio-medica · 2025Article
- Prebiotics and Probiotics for Gastrointestinal Disorders.Nutrients · 2024Review
- The Potential Impact of Probiotics on Human Health: An Update on Their Health-Promoting Properties.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Microbiota-Derived Extracellular Vesicles as a Postbiotic Strategy to Alleviate Diarrhea and Enhance Immunity in Rotavirus-Infected Neonatal Rats.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Effects of Probiotics in Adults with Gastroenteritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- ProbioticFrontiers in pediatrics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIf acute diarrhea in children is not treated promptly and effectively, it can lead to severe dehydration and serious sequelae. Due to the imbalance of intestinal bacteria in children with acute diarrhea, the supplementation with probiotics is important, which can improve the intestinal microenvironment, promote immunity, and enhance resistance. This meta-analysis provides further evidence and discussion of the therapeutic effect of probiotics on acute diarrhea in children.
methodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched by rapid matching. The input keywords were as follows: (probiotics/synbiotics) and (child/children) and (acute diarrhea/acute gastroenteritis). Articles reporting on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of probiotics in treating acute diarrhea in children were retrieved. The studies were published from 2010 to 2020. After screening and quality evaluation, Stata 16.0 software was used for the analysis.
resultsTwelve articles with 744 patients were included in the study, and the overall quality of the articles was excellent. Meta-analysis showed that the duration of diarrhea in the probiotics group was shorter than that in the control group [standard mean difference (SMD) =-0.74, 95% CI: -1.11 to -0.37, Z=-3.935, P=0.000], the 2-day treatment efficacy for diarrhea in the probiotics group was greater than that in the control group [odds ratio (OR) =2.12, 95% CI: 1.47-3.05, Z=3.998, P=0.000], and the length of hospital stay in the probiotics group was shorter than that of the control group (SMD =-0.60, 95% CI: -0.74 to -0.47, Z=-8.781, P=0.000). In the subgroup analysis, combined probiotics shortened the duration of diarrhea compared with single probiotic use, and DISCUSSION: In the treatment of acute diarrhea in children, the addition of probiotics can shorten the duration of diarrhea, increase treatment efficacy after 2 days of treatment, and shorten the length of hospital stay. However, because of possible publication bias in the current study, further high-quality RCT studies in clinical settings are needed to verify the current results and continue the exploration of this topic.
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Registered trials
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