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Review
. 2020 Jul 25;46(1):104.
doi: 10.1186/s13052-020-00862-z.

Probiotics' efficacy in paediatric diseases: which is the evidence? A critical review on behalf of the Italian Society of Pediatrics

Massimo Martinelli  1 , Giuseppe Banderali  2 , Marisa Bobbio  3 , Elisa Civardi  4 , Alberto Chiara  4 , Sofia D'Elios  5 , Andrea Lo Vecchio  1 , Mattia Olivero  3 , Diego Peroni  5 , Claudio Romano  6 , Mauro Stronati  4 , Renato Turra  3 , Irene Viola  6 , Annamaria Staiano  7 , Alberto Villani  8
Affiliations
Review

Probiotics' efficacy in paediatric diseases: which is the evidence? A critical review on behalf of the Italian Society of Pediatrics

Massimo Martinelli et al. Ital J Pediatr. .

Erratum in

Abstract

During the last decade several paediatric studies have been published with different possible indications for probiotics, leading to a global increase of probiotics' market. Nevertheless, different study designs, multiple single/combined strains and small sample size still leave many uncertainties regarding their efficacy. In addition, different regulatory and quality control issues make still very difficult the interpretation of the clinical data. The objective of this review is to critically summarise the current evidence on probiotics' efficacy and safety on a different number of pathologies, including necrotizing enterocolitis, acute infectious diarrhoea, allergic diseases and functional gastrointestinal disorders in order to guide paediatric healthcare professionals on using evidence-based probiotics' strains. To identify relevant data, literature searches were performed including Medline-PubMed, the Cochrane Library and EMBASE databases. Considering probiotics strain-specific effects, the main focus was on individual probiotic strains and not on probiotics in general.

Keywords: Acute infectious diarrhoea; Allergy; Functional gastrointestinal disorders; Necrotizing enterocolitis; Paediatrics; Probiotics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest with regards to this manuscript.

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