Objective To compare the clinical therapeutic effect of probiotic agents in treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by Meta-analysis. Methods Such databases as MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database were searched from January 2001 to October 2011, and the domestic conference proceedings and relevant papers published in recent 1 year were also searched manually. All domestic randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on probiotic agents in treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were collected, which were then selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data were extracted, the methodological quality of the included studies was assessed, and the Meta-analysis was performed with Revman5.0. Results A total of 11 RCTs involving 1 065 patients were included. The total effective rate of the probiotic agents plus conventional treatment group was superior to that of the conventional treatment (trimebutine meleate/ pinaverium bromide) group (RR=1.26, 95%CI 1.18 to 1.34, Plt;0.000 01), it could effectively relieve abdominal pain (RR=1.10, 95%CI 1.03 to 1.18, P=0.004) and diarrhea (RR=1.15, 95%CI 1.07 to 1.24, P=0.000 3). But there was no significant difference between the two groups in alleviating abdominal distention (RR=1.08, 95%CI 0.95 to 1.24, P=0.25). The effectiveness of probiotic agents used alone was similar to that of the conventional treatment used alone, without significant differences (RR=0.85, 95%CI 0.66 to 1.09, P=0.19). Conclusion Probiotic agents combined with conventional drugs can improve the total therapeutic effect of IBS, especially in alleviating abdominal pain, diarrhea and so on. But the effectiveness of probiotic agents used alone is similar to that of the conventional treatment used alone. For the possibility of bias due to the lower quality of the included studies and unclear implementation of RCTs, this conclusion should be verified with more large-scale and high-quality RCTs.
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of probiotic agents for ulcerative colitis. Methods We searched electronically the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Issue 1, 2007), MEDLINE (1978 to 2007), EMBASE (1978 to 2007), OVID Database (1978 to 2007), Chinese Biological Medicine Database (CBM Disc) (1978 to 2007), CNKI (1979 to 2007), Chinese VIP Database (1989 to 2007) and Wanfang Database (1978 to 2007). We also checked the reference lists of retrieved articles and hand-searched 4 kinds of important journals to identify randomized controlled trials of probiotic agents for ulcerative colitis. Meta-analyses were conducted with The Cochrane Collaboration’s RevMan 4.2 software. Results Thirteen trials involving 1146 patients were included. Meta-analyses showed that probiotic agents were not superior to aminosalicylates for the clinical remission rate (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.53 to 1.66; P=0.82); but the combination of probiotic agents and aminosalicylates were superior to aminosalicylates alone (OR 2.69, 95% CI 1.57 to 4.61; P=0.0003). In terms of the clinical relapse, the rate for probiotic agents was superior to that for placebo (OR 0.03, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.15; Plt;0.0001); but not superior to aminosalicylates (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.38; P=0.79). The combination of probiotic agents and aminosalicylates was not superior to aminosalicylates alone (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.24 to 1.32; P=0.19). As for the incidence of adverse effects, probiotic agents were not superior to aminosalicylates (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.43 to 1.70; P=0.65); and the combination of probiotic agents and aminosalicylates was not superior to aminosalicylates alone (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.06 to 1.54; P=0.15). Conclusion Probiotic agents are not superior to aminosalicylates based on the evidence in this review, but the combination of probiotic agents and aminosalicylates is superior to aminosalicylates alone in maintaining remission. Probiotic agents are superior to placebo but not superior to aminosalicylates, and the combination of probiotic agents and aminosalicylates is not superior to aminosalicylates alone in preventing relapse. Probiotic agents have good tolerability. However, all these findings should be interpreted with caution and more clinical trials are needed.