Probiotics in critically ill patients: An umbrella review
Open accessAbstract
Objectives: Probiotics are live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. Because of the wide usage of antibiotics, acute changes in diet, and the stress of illness, critically ill patients' homeostasis of the gut microbiome can be disrupted during intensive care unit (ICU) confinement; probiotics are suggested as a beneficial intervention in critically ill patients. We tried to give an overview of the effects of probiotic supplements in critically ill patients based on published systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs). Data sources: A systematic search was performed in four databases as well as hand searching. Study selection: The results were independently screened in two title/abstracts and full-text stages. Data extraction: Any reported outcomes in each study were extracted, using a data extraction table. Data synthesis: A wide range of outcomes of using probiotic supplements in critically ill patients have been reported in 20 included studies. Based on the current knowledge, we can say that probiotics may reduce the rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia, nosocomial pneumonia, the overall infection rate, duration of mechanical ventilation, and antibiotic use in critically ill patients, but there is not a significant association between using the probiotics and mortality, length of hospitalization, and incidence of diarrhea. Conclusion: Despite the various beneficial effects of probiotics in critically ill patients, there is not yet much evidence supporting the routine use of these supplements and further well-designed multicenter trials are needed to provide "evidence-based" recommendations. How to cite this article: Naseri A, Seyedi-Sahebari S, Mahmoodpoor A, Sanaie S. Probiotics in Critically Ill Patients: An Umbrella Review. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(3):339-360.
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The clinical implications of sex differences in probiotic studies are unclear.
“The clinical implications of this issue are unclear [15,136].”
From Current Concepts in Probiotic Safety and Efficacy (2026) · cites this paper as [136]
The Discussion identifies uncertainty about probiotic use in critically ill patients, but does not discuss sex differences or their clinical implications. Searches for sex differences and sex- or gender-specific probiotic effects found no passage addressing that point. (LLM, conf=0.74)
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ROBIS: A new tool to assess risk of bias in systematic reviews was developed
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A systematic review of the safety of probiotics
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Current Concepts in Probiotic Safety and Efficacy
Churin, A. A., Sokolyanskaya, L. O., Lukina, A. P., & Karnachuk, O. V. (2026) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu18040696 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mahmoodpoor, A., Sanaie, S., Naseri, A., & Seyedi-Sahebari, S.
- Affiliations
- Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (IR)
- Corresponding author
- Sanaie, Sarvin
- Venue
- Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine
- Publisher
- Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishing
- Published
- 2022-03-30
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 339-360
- ISSN
- 0972-5229 (ISSN-L)
- 1998-359X
- PMC
- PMC9015916
- OpenAlex
- W4214490320
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 1.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Tabriz University of Medical Sciences
- University of Tabriz
- Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine › Nosocomial Infections in ICU
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment
- Keywords
- probiotics, critically ill patients, intensive care unit, gut microbiota, ventilator-associated pneumonia, nosocomial pneumonia, infection rate, mechanical ventilation duration, antibiotic use, mortality, length of hospital stay, diarrhea
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