What do systematic reviews say?

Probiotics vs control

Per‐protocol analysis: probiotics may leads to lower incidence of VAP compared with control (low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing ventilator‐associated pneumonia 2014 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  OR 0.7 [0.52, 0.95]
  8 studies · 1018 participants
  Low

Probiotics vs control

It is very uncertain whether per‐protocol analysis: probiotics changes ICU mortality compared with control (very low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing ventilator‐associated pneumonia 2014 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  OR 0.84 [0.58, 1.22]
  5 studies · 703 participants
  Very low

Probiotics vs control

It is very uncertain whether per‐protocol analysis: probiotics changes hospital mortality compared with control (very low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing ventilator‐associated pneumonia 2014 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  OR 0.78 [0.54, 1.14]
  4 studies · 524 participants
  Very low

Probiotics vs control

It is very uncertain whether per‐protocol analysis: probiotics changes diarrhoea compared with control (very low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing ventilator‐associated pneumonia 2014 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  OR 0.72 [0.47, 1.09]
  4 studies · 618 participants
  Very low

Probiotics vs control

• Probiotics for preventing ventilator‐associated pneumonia 2014 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  4 studies · 396 participants
  Very low

Probiotics vs control

• Probiotics for preventing ventilator‐associated pneumonia 2014 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  2 studies · 203 participants
  Very low

Probiotics vs control

Per‐protocol analysis: probiotics showed no clear difference in antibiotic use compared with control (low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing ventilator‐associated pneumonia 2014 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  OR 1.23 [0.51, 2.96]
  1 study · 259 participants
  Low

Probiotics vs placebo or no treatment

Intention‐to‐treat analysis: probiotics may leads to lower number of participants who were diagnosed with acute URTIs: at least… compared with placebo or no treatment (low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections 2022 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 0.76 [0.67, 0.87]
  16 studies · 4798 participants
  Low

Probiotics vs placebo or no treatment

Intention‐to‐treat analysis: probiotics probably leads to lower number of participants who were diagnosed with acute URTIs: at least… compared with placebo or no treatment (moderate certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections 2022 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 0.59 [0.38, 0.91]
  4 studies · 763 participants
  Moderate

Probiotics vs placebo or no treatment

Intention‐to‐treat analysis: probiotics may leads to lower incidence rate of acute URTIs compared with placebo or no treatment (low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections 2022 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  Rate ratio 0.82 [0.73, 0.92]
  12 studies · 4364 participants
  Low

Probiotics vs placebo or no treatment

• Probiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections 2022 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  6 studies · 2406 participants
  Low

Probiotics vs placebo or no treatment

It is very uncertain whether intention‐to‐treat analysis: probiotics changes number of participants who were absent from childcare centre,… compared with placebo or no treatment (very low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections 2022 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 0.14 [0.03, 0.59]
  1 study · 80 participants
  Very low

Probiotics vs placebo or no treatment

Intention‐to‐treat analysis: probiotics probably leads to lower number of participants who used prescribed antibiotics for acute URTIs compared with placebo or no treatment (moderate certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections 2022 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 0.58 [0.42, 0.81]
  6 studies · 1548 participants
  Moderate

Probiotics vs placebo or no treatment

Intention‐to‐treat analysis: probiotics showed no clear difference in number of participants who experienced at least 1 side effect or… compared with placebo or no treatment (low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute upper respiratory tract infections 2022 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 1.02 [0.9, 1.15]
  8 studies · 2456 participants
  Low

Probiotics vs placebo

Probiotic probably leads to lower proportion of children with AOM (overall) compared with placebo (moderate certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute otitis media in children 2019 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 0.77 [0.63, 0.93]
  16 studies · 2961 participants
  Moderate

Probiotics vs placebo

Probiotic probably leads to lower proportion of children with AOM: children not prone to AOM compared with placebo (moderate certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute otitis media in children 2019 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 0.64 [0.49, 0.84]
  11 studies · 2227 participants
  Moderate

Probiotics vs placebo

Probiotic showed no clear difference in proportion of children with AOM: children prone to AOM compared with placebo (high certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute otitis media in children 2019 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 0.97 [0.85, 1.11]
  5 studies · 734 participants
  High

Probiotics vs placebo

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Probiotics for preventing acute otitis media in children 2019 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  Studies not reported
  No studies found

Probiotics vs placebo

Probiotic showed no clear difference in adverse events compared with placebo (low certainty).

• Probiotics for preventing acute otitis media in children 2019 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  OR 1.54 [0.6, 3.94]
  4 studies · 395 participants
  Low

Probiotics vs placebo

• Probiotics for preventing acute otitis media in children 2019 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  5 studies · 1280 participants
  Moderate