Treatment efficacy of probiotics on atopic dermatitis, zooming in on infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Probiotic treatment of atopic dermatitis is widely studied with controversial results. The objective of this study is to review the efficacy of probiotics for the treatment of atopic dermatitis in infants. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases, and reference lists were searched up to July 2017. Double-blinded randomized clinical trials were included. The primary outcome was the Scoring Atopic Dermatitis index. Subgroups analyses were conducted on probiotic species, treatment duration, participant age, and disease severity. Eight clinical trials (741 infants) were included in the quantitative synthesis. The overall pooled change in Scoring Atopic Dermatitis index (95% CI) in infants was -5.71 (-8.37, -3.04), P < 0.01. Subgroup analysis revealed that the effect was protective in moderate-to-severe patients -8.32 (-16.35, -0.28), with preparations containing Lactobacillus -5.76 (-9.21, -2.30). Probiotics for the treatment of infantile atopic dermatitis is beneficial.