Probiotics prove to be a very useful weapon to reduce infections in critically ill patients, although strong recommendation in support of their use cannot be drawn yet. Reassessing the risk ratio with the meta-analytic software ProMeta 3.0, the overall effect becomes 1.02 (95% confidence interval 0.85–1.22), changing the direction of the effect against the use of probiotics, although the result is not significant. In spite of their clinical use for a long time, the exact role of probiotics in many therapeutic settings is still not clear, and safety issues in special populations (pregnant women, immunosuppressed, severe underlying diseases) are the main matter of concern.

Read More