Probiotics for Eczema
Eczema is a common and chronic skin condition.
Probiotics have been proposed as a treatment for it.
And we are currently in the process of examining the evidence of its effectiveness in clinical trials. The paper presented here evaluated the effects of probiotics.
In this paper.
A randomized controlled trial of probiotics compared to no treatment, placebo, or other active interventions for the treatment of physician-diagnosed eczema.
Conclusions.
Currently available probiotics have not been shown to have beneficial effects on improving eczema symptoms.There were no reports of adverse effects, but there was also no beneficial information compared to no treatment.
Study details
A review of 39 randomized controlled trials, including 2599 randomized participants.
Patients suffering from mild to severe eczema were included.Patients with mild to severe eczema were included, ranging in age from 1 year to 55 years.
The trials were conducted in primary and secondary care facilities, mainly in Europe or Asia.The duration of treatment ranged from 4 weeks to 6 months, with a follow-up period of 0 to 36 months.
Varying concentrations of probiotics were used.
The probiotics used were alone or in combination with other probiotics, with or without prebiotics, and the comparators were no treatment, placebo, and other treatments that did not contain probiotics.
Probiotics make little difference in self-rated symptoms by participants or parents of eczema (13 trials; 754 participants)
No evidence was found to suggest that probiotics made a difference in the QoL of eczema patients when measured by participants. (6 studies; 552 participants; standardized mean difference (SMD) 0.03, 95% CI -0.36 to 0.42; low-quality evidence)
Probiotics may slightly reduce the eczema severity score as assessed by the investigator. (24 trials, 1596 participants)
No evidence was found to suggest that probiotics affect the risk of adverse events during active treatment. (Risk ratio (RR) 1.54, 95% CI 0.90 to 2.63; 7 trials; 402 participants; low quality evidence)
Reviewer's comments.
With the exception of moderate ratings for eczema symptoms rated by participants, the quality of evidence supporting our main findings was low. The reasons for this are unexplained variability between studies and lack of sufficient available data.
Makrgeorgou A, Leonardi-Bee J, Bath-Hextall FJ, Murrell DF, Tang MLK, Roberts A, Boyle RJ. Probiotics for treating eczema. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, No. 11. Number: CD006135. doi: 10.1002 / 14651858.CD006135.pub3.
This was the case for eczema, despite the fact that probiotics have been attracting attention since the beginning of the study and are expected to have a variety of benefits for gut health and skin problems.
Although I am concerned that the study shows a difference between doctor's measurements and self-judgments.
Even if the experts say things have changed, it's hard to be convinced if you don't feel the change yourself.I myself have skin problems due to sun sensitivity, so I thought I would just have to wait and see if the research progresses and the results are reversed.
