Original articleProbiotics in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea in children: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Section snippets
Search strategy
We searched: MEDLINE (1966 – December 2005), EMBASE (1980 – December 2005), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL, 1982 – December 2005), The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Issue 2, 2005), and The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CENTRAL) (Issue 4, 2005). The search strategy included use of a validated filter for identifying controlled trials,18 which was combined with a topic-specific strategy.
In brief, the search combined terms related to diarrhea
Description of studies
We initially identified 9 articles. Table I (available at www.jpeds.com) summarizes the characteristics of the 6 included trials.16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23 The remaining 3 studies were excluded. Table II summarizes characteristics of the excluded trials,24, 25, 26 including the reasons for exclusion.
The 6 selected studies recruited a total of 766 participants (376 in the experimental group and 390 in the control group) who completed the follow-up interval. All studies were placebo controlled. There
Discussion
Our meta-analysis finds effectiveness of probiotics in preventing AAD in children treated with antibiotics for any reason (mainly for respiratory tract infections). For every 7 patients who would develop diarrhea while being treated with antibiotics, one fewer will develop AAD if also receiving probiotics. The results of this meta-analysis confirm the findings of previous systematic reviews, which included trials comparing probiotics with placebo or no treatment for prevention of AAD.11, 12, 13
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