Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39906103›Full record

ReviewWorld journal of emergency medicine2025

Effects of probiotic treatment on the prognosis of patients with sepsis: a systematic review.

Chao Gong, Shengyong Xu, Youlong Pan, Shigong Guo, Joseph Harold Walline, Xue Wang, Xin Lu, Shiyuan Yu, Mubing Qin, Huadong Zhu and 2 more

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in World journal of emergency medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Clarithromycin for treating sepsis in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Intestinal injury signaling pathway in sepsis.Frontiers in immunology · 2025
    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

12 authors.

Chao GongEmergency Department, the State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Shengyong XuEmergency Department, the State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Youlong PanEmergency Department, Qinghai Cardio-cerebrovascular Specialty Hospital, Xining 810012, China.
Shigong GuoDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Southmead Hospital, Bristol BS105NB, UK.
Joseph Harold WallineDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, the Pennsylvania State University, Hershey 17033, USA.
Xue WangDepartment of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Clinical Research Center for Immunologic Diseases, Beijing 100730, China.
Xin LuEmergency Department, the State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Shiyuan YuEmergency Department, the State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Mubing QinEmergency Department, the State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Huadong ZhuEmergency Department, the State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Yanxia GaoEmergency Department, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China.
Yi LiEmergency Department, the State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSepsis, a common acute and critical disease, leads to 11 million deaths annually worldwide. Probiotics are living microorganisms that are beneficial to the host and may benefit sepsis outcomes, but their effects are still inconclusive. This study aimed to evaluate the overall effect of probiotics on the prognosis of patients with sepsis. DATA RESOURCES: We searched several sources for published/presented studies, including PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library and the US National Library of Medicine Clinical Trials Register (www.clinicaltrials.gov) updated through July 30, 2023, to identify all relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or observational studies that assessed the effectiveness of probiotics or synbiotics in patients with sepsis and reported mortality. We focused primarily on mortality during the study period and analyzed secondary outcomes, including 28-day mortality, in-intensive care unit (ICU) mortality and other outcomes.

resultsData from 405 patients in five RCTs and 108 patients in one cohort study were included in the analysis. The overall quality of the studies was satisfactory, but clinical heterogeneity existed. All adult studies reported a tendency for probiotics to reduce the mortality of patients with sepsis, and most studies reported a decreasing trend in the incidence of infectious complications, length of ICU stay and duration of antibiotic use. There was only one RCT involving children.

conclusionProbiotics show promise for improving the prognosis of patients with sepsis, including reducing mortality and the incidence of infectious complications, particularly in adult patients. Despite the limited number of studies, especially in children, these findings will be encouraging for clinical practice in the treatment of sepsis and suggest that gut microbiota-targeted therapy may improve the prognosis of patients with sepsis.

Indexed as

Gut microbiotaMortalityProbioticsSepsisSynbiotics

Identifiers

PMID39906103
PMCPMC11788112

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.