REVIEW

Jing Sun,1,2 Gayatri Marwah,1 Matthew Westgarth,1 Nicholas Buys,2 David Ellwood,1–3 and Peter H Gray4,5 1

School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; 2Menzies Health Institute, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; Gold Coast University Hospital, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; 4Mater Mothers’ Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; and 5Mater Research Institute–University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 3

ABSTRACT

Probiotics are increasingly used as a supplement to prevent adverse health outcomes in preterm infants. We conducted a systematic review, meta-analysis, and subgroup analysis of findings from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the magnitude of the effect of the probiotics on health outcomes among very-low–birth-weight (VLBW) infants. Relevant articles from January 2003 to June 2017 were selected from a broad range of databases, including Medline, PubMed, Scopus, and Embase. Studies were included if they used an RCT design, involved a VLBW infant (birthweight