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Comparative Study
. 2021 Jun:95:107531.
doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2021.107531. Epub 2021 Mar 5.

The role of probiotics in coronavirus disease-19 infection in Wuhan: A retrospective study of 311 severe patients

Qiang Li  1 , Fang Cheng  1 , Qiling Xu  1 , Yuyong Su  1 , Xuefeng Cai  1 , Fang Zeng  2 , Yu Zhang  3
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The role of probiotics in coronavirus disease-19 infection in Wuhan: A retrospective study of 311 severe patients

Qiang Li et al. Int Immunopharmacol. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: Researches revealed that probiotics maybe a potential strategy for COVID-19, whereas there is a lack of related evidence. This study aims to analyze the role of probiotics on severe COVID-19 patients.

Methods: In the current retrospective single-center study, we collected data of 311 consecutive severe patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Wuhan Union Hospital from Feb 3rd to Feb 20th, 2020. Epidemiological, clinical and medication characteristics were compared and analyzed between patients with or without probiotics.

Results: In total, 93 of the 123 patients (75.61%) who were treated with probiotics survived to hospital discharge with the median inpatient day of 32 days and mean virus clearance time of 23 days, which were significantly longer than those of patients without probiotics. There were no bias in laboratory parameters, except for IL-6 and ESR, which were significantly higher in patients treated probiotics. We tracked the dynamic changes of 8 selected laboratory parameters (IL-6, CRP, total T lymphocytes, NK cells, B lymphocyte, CD4 + T cells, CD8 + T cells and CD4/CD8 ratio) and found that probiotics could not reduce the increased IL-6 levels but possessed the ability to moderate the immunity and decreased the incidence of secondary infection in COVID-19 patients.

Conclusions: Probiotics could be an effective strategy for the treatment of COVID-19 patients to reduce the secondary infection and moderated the immunity.

Keywords: COVID-19; Immunity; Inflammatory; Probiotics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
The outcomes between patients treated with or without probiotics. (A), the discharge rate of patients in different probiotics treated groups; (B), inpatient days and virus clearance time of patients in different probiotics treated groups.
Fig 2
Fig 2
The dynamic changes in selected inflammatory and immunological parameters during the course of COVID-19. (A), the antibiotic treatment of patients in different probiotics treated groups; (B), the dynamic change of IL-6 in patients in different probiotics treated groups; (C), the dynamic change of CRP level in patients in different probiotics treated groups; (D), the dynamic change of total T lymphocytes in patients in different probiotics treated groups; (E), the dynamic change of NK cells in patients in different probiotics treated groups; (F), the dynamic change of B lymphocytes in patients in different probiotics treated groups; (G), the dynamic change of CD4 + T cells in patients in different probiotics treated groups; (H), the dynamic change of CD8 + T cells in patients in different probiotics treated groups; (I), the dynamic change of CD4/CD8 ratio in patients in different probiotics treated groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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