Prophylactic efficacy of probiotics on travelers' diarrhea: an adaptive meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Bae, Jong Myon

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The 2017 guideline for the prevention of travelers' diarrhea (TD) by the International Society of Travel Medicine suggested that "˜there is insufficient evidence to recommend the use of commercially available prebiotics or probiotics to prevent or treat TD.' However, a meta-analysis published in 2007 reported significant efficacy of probiotics in the prevention of TD (summary relative risk [sRR], 0.85, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79 to 0.91). This study aimed to synthesize the efficacy of probiotics on TD by updating the meta-analysis of double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized human trials.
METHODS
The search process was conducted by the adaptive meta-analysis method using the "˜cited by' and "˜similar articles' options provided by PubMed. The inclusion criteria were double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized human trials with hypotheses of probiotics as intervention and TD as an outcome. The adaptive meta-analysis was conducted using Stata software using the csi, metan, metafunnel, and metabias options.
RESULTS
Eleven articles were selected for the meta-analysis. The sRR was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.79 to 0.91) and showed statistical significance. There was no heterogeneity (I-squared=28.4%) and no publication bias.
CONCLUSIONS
Probiotics showed statistically significant efficacy in the prevention of TD.