Efficacy Of Probiotics In Treatment Of Irritable Bowel Syndrome:a Meta-analysis

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of probiotics in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Methods:Original literatures were identified by searching the PubMed, Cochrane center register of controlled trials, Embase,CBM, CNKI, WanFang, WeiPu were searched from establishment to March of2013. Meanwhile, the references of the included literatures were hand-searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on probiotics for treating IBS. Data extraction and quality evaluation were completed accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria by two researchers. RevMan5.0software was used for data analyses. Results:Nineteen RCTs involving2172patients were included. The result of meta-analyses showed that compared with placebo,there was statistical significant in improving overall symptoms integral [SMD=-0.18,95%CI (-0.28,-0.08),P=0.0006], abdominal pain [SMD=-0.13,95%CI (-0.21,-0.04), P=0.003], abdominal distension, defecation discomfort[SMD=-0.15,95%CI (-0.27,-0.02), P=0.02].There was no statistical significance in the overall quality of life [SMD=0.09,95%CI(0.08,0.25), P=0.30],adverse effect ratio [RR=0.91,95%CI (0.71,1.16), P=0.45].Conclusion:The current evidence shows that probiotics can effectively improve the clinical symptoms of IBS patients and has a good security. However, there was an inadequacies due to methodological quality problems in existing RCTs, so future studies need more rigorous, well-designed, large sample size RCTs focus on strains, dosage, course of treatment, patients with IBS subgroups to confirm their effectiveness.