The Effect of a Multispecies Probiotic on Reducing the Incidence of Antibiotic-associated Diarrhoea in Children.

Medical University of Warsaw

Status

Completed

Conditions

Antibiotic-associated Diarrhea

Treatments

Dietary Supplement: Multispecies probiotic

Other: Placebo

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Industry

Identifiers

NCT03334604

AAD2017

Details and patient eligibility

About

In this trial, the investigators aim to assess the effectiveness of a multispecies probiotic consisting of 2 strains of Bifidobacterium (B. bifidum W23, B. lactis W51) and 6 strains of Lactobacillus (L. acidophilus W37, L. acidophilus W55, L. paracasei W20, L. plantarum W62, L. rhamnosus W71, and L. salivarius W24) in reducing the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in a group of children undergoing antibiotic therapy for common infections.

Full description

Certain individual probiotic strains have been proven to be effective in reducing the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD). However, the effects of using multispecies probiotics remain unclear. The investigators aim to assess the effectiveness of a specific multispecies probiotic preparation (Ecologic AAD Kids) in reducing the incidence of AAD in children.

In this trial, a total of 350 children aged 3 months to 18 years, undergoing antibiotic treatment, will be randomly allocated to receive either a multispecies probiotic consisting of 2 strains of Bifidobacterium (B. bifidum W23, B. lactis W51) and 6 strains of Lactobacillus (L. acidophilus W37, L. acidophilus W55, L. paracasei W20, L. plantarum W62, L. rhamnosus W71, and L. salivarius W24) at a total dose of 10^10 colony-forming units daily, or a placebo, from the first day of antibiotic treatment until 7 days after antibiotic cessation. The primary outcome measure will be the incidence of AAD, defined as ≥3 loose or watery stools (a score of A on the Amsterdam Infant Stool Scale for children younger than 1 year and a score of 5-7 on the Bristol Stool Form scale for children older than 1 year) in 24 hours, caused either by Clostridium difficile or of otherwise unexplained aetiology (after testing for common diarrhoeal pathogens), occurring during and/or up to 7 days after the end of the antibiotic therapy.

Enrollment

350 patients

Sex

All

Ages

3 months to 18 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

children receiving oral or intravenous antibiotics for common infections, willing and able to start the probiotic intervention within 24 hours after the start of antibiotic intake, receiving broad-spectrum antibiotics (broad-spectrum penicillins, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, clindamycin).

Exclusion criteria

prior use of antibiotics within the previous 4 weeks, presence of a severe or generalised infection, history of severe chronic disease (e.g., cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, tuberculosis), critical/life-threatening illness, immunodeficiency, history of pre-existing diarrhoea within the previous 4 weeks, exclusive breastfeeding, allergy or hypersensitivity to any component of the study product, tube-feeding, use of proton-pump inhibitors, laxatives or anti-diarrhoeal drugs, as well as use of a probiotic product containing L rhamnosus GG or S boulardii 14 days before and during the study.