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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 35 studies in children: probiotics cut diarrhea, not stool frequency

Chen and colleagues · BMC pediatrics · 2025

Original title: Probiotics for pediatric diarrhea and constipation: an umbrella meta-analysis.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Mixed

Probiotics cut diarrhea (ES = 0.52; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.68) and shortened it (WMD = -1.85; 95% CI: -2.83, -0.86). They did not change stool frequency (WMD = 0.22; 95% CI: -0.30, 0.74).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
35 studies · children
What was tested
Probiotics compared with control groups, pooling earlier meta-analyses on diarrhea and constipation
What it measured
The question itself: gut symptoms such as bloating, pain and irregular bowels
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared; no external funding.
Journal
BMC pediatrics, 2025
Source
PubMed record 41039263. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 35 studies.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: gut symptoms such as bloating, pain and irregular bowels.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: gut symptoms such as bloating and IBS

    9

    5 benefit, 2 mixed, 2 no difference

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    10

    4 benefit, 2 mixed, 4 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Do probiotics improve gut health?”

Some strains may help some symptoms.

Confidence: low. Based on 28 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Other reviews on this question

See all 28 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads differed. The reviewer checked the abstract and kept the first read. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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