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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1577152
This article is part of the Research Topic Strain-Specific Probiotics: Enhancing Children's Health Through Targeted Clinical Research View all 8 articles
Probiotics for children with asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
Yang Liu 1,2,3,4*
Yuxiao Zhang 1,2,3,4
Yingna Li 1,2,3,4
Xiaohu Zhang 2,5,6
Liang Xie 1,2,3,4
Hanmin Liu 1,2,3,4,6- 1 Department of Pediatric Pulmonology and Immunology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- 2 Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 3 NHC Key Laboratory of Chronobiology (Sichuan University), Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- 4 The Joint Laboratory for Pulmonary Development and Related Diseases, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 5 Sichuan University-The Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Laboratory for Reproductive Medicine, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- 6 Development and Related Diseases of Women and Children Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Background: Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease affecting children worldwide.While probiotics have been proposed as a potential therapy, their efficacy in pediatric asthma management remains controversial.: A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and clinicaltrials.gov was conducted to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from 2014 to 2024 evaluating probiotic interventions in children with asthma. Primary outcomes included asthma exacerbation rates and predicted FEV1%. The risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane guidelines.Results: Out of 1361 articles, eight RCTs involving 902 participants were included. Metaanalysis showed probiotics significantly reduced acute asthma episodes with risk ratio of 0.38 (95% CI: 0.26 -0.56, p<0.00001) and improved FEV1/FVC ratios (MD = 5.70, 95% CI: 1.93-9.47, p<0.003) compared to the control group. Neither FEV1 levels nor school attendance showed significant changes.Probiotic supplementation may reduce asthma exacerbations and improve pulmonary function in pediatric asthma. However, heterogeneity across studies suggests the need for further research to determine optimal strains, dosages, and treatment durations. This review establishes groundwork for research and practice by exploring microbial interventions in childhood airway disorders.
Keywords: Probiotics, Asthma, Children, Meta-analysis, Pulmonary Function
Received: 15 Feb 2025; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhang, Li, Zhang, Xie and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yang Liu, Department of Pediatric Pulmonology and Immunology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.