Introduction:

Adding probiotics to triple and quadruple therapies has been proposed to improve their effectiveness in the eradication of Helicobacter pylori, but there is controversy about their usefulness.

Objective:

To assess the effectiveness and safety of probiotics as adjuvants in triple or quadruple therapies for H. pylori eradication in adults.

Materials and methods:

Systematic review and meta-analysis. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) assessing the effectiveness and safety of probiotics as adjuvant therapy in combination with triple and quadruple therapies for the eradication of H. pylori in adults and published in English or Spanish between January 2010 and May 2020 were searched in the Embase, Ovid Medline, Cochrane Library, and LILACS databases. Regarding the meta-analysis, a fixed-effects model was used to calculate the pooled measure (OR and RR) of the effectiveness and safety of using adjuvant probiotics in triple and quadruple therapy.

Results:

Twelve RCTs were included (1 091 patients in total): 9 assessed triple therapy, 2 assessed quadruple therapy, and 1 assessed both triple and quadruple therapy. In the case of triple therapy, the use of adjuvant probiotics was more effective than placebo: 79.4% vs. 71.1%, (OR=1.42; 95%CI: 1.05-2.09), but in the case of quadruple therapy, their use did not increase effectiveness. The most widely used probiotic was Lactobacillus reuteri, with an eradication rate of 77.9% (95%CI: 70.5-84.19) versus 66.8% (95%CI: 58.8-74.2) for placebo. Probiotics decreased the occurrence of adverse effects in both triple therapy (OR=0.50; 95%CI: 0.28-0.90) and quadruple therapy (OR=0.26; 95%CI: 0.09-0.74).

Conclusions.

Adjuvant probiotics improve the effectiveness of triple therapy to eradicate H. Pylori by 8.5%, but the final effectiveness is <90%. Furthermore, their use does not increase the effectiveness of quadruple therapy. However, the use of these microorganisms reduces the adverse effects of these therapies.

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