Congress Report: Probiotics in children - what is the evidence of efficacy?

Abstract

Professor Szajewska began her lecture by describing the use of meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), where the results of different studies are combined to obtain a qualitative estimate of the overall effect of a particular intervention or variable on a defined outcome. Two main reasons to perform a meta-analysis are to increase power and to increase precision of the results. The resultsof individual studied could be pooled together if the studies are considered sufficiently homogenous in terms of the question and methods. Documented results may be used to define treatment guidelines.2, 3