Trial reportScientific reports2022
A randomized trial of probiotic supplementation in nurses to reduce stress and viral illness.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Clinical Evidence on the Health Benefits and Safety of Probiotic Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus: A Systematic Review.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Pooled it
- Probiotic intake and mental health in healthy working adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Assessment of the Prophylactic Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics Against COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Clinical medicine & research · 2024Pooled it
- An eight-week placebo-controlled RCT on the efficacy of a probiotic nutritional intervention for subclinical gastrointestinal symptoms in students.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Probiotic Therapy of Gastrointestinal Symptoms During COVID-19 Infection: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Remote Study.Nutrients · 2024Trial
- Probiotics mitigate stress and inflammation in malnourished adults via gut microbiota modulation: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- The therapeutic effects ofGut microbiome (Cambridge, England) · 2025Review
- Potential strategies for supporting mental health and mitigating the risk of burnout among healthcare professionals: insights from the COVID-19 pandemic.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Review
- The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in Psychiatric Disorders.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Animal studies demonstrate how the gut microbiota influence psychological health and immunity to viral infections through their actions along multiple dynamic pathways in the body. Considerable interest exists in probiotics to reduce stress and illness symptoms through beneficial effects in the gut, but translating pre-clinical evidence from animal models into humans remains challenging. We conducted a large trial in nurses working during the 2020 COVID19 pandemic year to establish whether daily ingestion of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 reduced perceived stress and the number of days participants reported symptoms of a viral illness. Our results showed no significant difference in perceived stress or the average number of illness days between probiotic supplemented nurses and the placebo group. Stress and viral illness symptoms reduced during the study for all participants, a trajectory likely influenced by societal-level factors. The powerful effect of a well-managed public health response to the COVID19 pandemic and the elimination of COVID19 from the community in 2020 may have altered the trajectory of stress levels and reduced circulating viral infections making it difficult to detect any effect of probiotic supplementation. Our study highlights the challenge in controlling environmental factors in human trials.
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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.