SynthesisNutrients2025
Probiotic Supplements Effect on Feeding Tolerance, Growth and Neonatal Morbidity in Extremely Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Nutrients, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Trial
- Ecology of protection: probiotic biogeography and sepsis prevention in the neonatal intestine.mBio · 2026Article
- Probiotic Implementation and Necrotizing Enterocolitis Risk in Preterm Infants.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- The impact of central venous catheter use on long-term growth and neurobehavioral outcome in preterm children born < 29 weeks of gestation.Molecular and cellular pediatrics · 2026Article
- Evaluating the effect of probiotics on severe necrotising enterocolitis in preterm infants born before 32 weeks gestation in England and Wales: a propensity-matched population study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- Early supplementation with live combinedFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Observational
- Necrotizing Enterocolitis: What's New and What's Next?International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Probiotic biogeography and sepsis prevention in the neonatal intestine.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesProbiotic supplementation has been actively investigated in preterm populations to reduce the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and late-onset sepsis. Despite this, few studies have focused on clinically relevant feeding tolerance and growth outcomes, and there is an alarming lack of evidence surrounding extremely preterm infants (defined as birth before 28 weeks gestational age), those most at risk of severe comorbidities. We aimed to investigate whether probiotics improve feeding tolerance, neonatal growth and neonatal morbidity among extremely preterm infants.
methodsA literature search was conducted in Medline, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Web of Science, and clinicaltrials.gov for ongoing trials. We included extremely preterm infants from randomized controlled trials and non-randomized trials with a concurrent control group. Two authors independently performed screening, data extraction and risk of bias assessment using the Risk of Bias 2 tool from Cochrane. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using GRADE.
resultsEleven RCTs and three non-randomized studies with a concurrent control group were included, analyzing a total of 14,888 extremely preterm infants. Meta-analyses revealed lower mean days to full enteral feeds (mean difference 1.1 days lower; 95% CI, 7.83 lower to 5.56 higher) and lower duration of parenteral nutrition (mean difference 2.4 days lower; 95% CI, 7.44 lower to 2.58 higher) in infants treated with probiotics; however, this was not statistically significant. There was a significant reduction in NEC (RR; 0.80, 95% CI; 0.68, 0.93) and all-cause mortality (RR; 0.56, 95% CI; 0.33, 0.93) in the probiotic group. All outcomes were graded at low or very low certainty of evidence.
conclusionsThe findings indicate a trend towards a potential beneficial effect of probiotic supplementation in reducing feeding intolerance and a notable reduction of risk of NEC and all-cause mortality in infants receiving probiotics. Future RCTs will focus on feeding intolerance, and growth outcomes are warranted.
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