Effect of probiotics on allergic rhinitis in children: systematic review and meta-analysis
A meta-analysis of 14 RCTs reports reductions in nasal and ocular symptom scores with probiotics in children with allergic rhinitis, but extreme heterogeneity severely limits the reliability of pooled estimates.
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What the study showed
Probiotics were associated with significant reductions in nasal symptom scores (SMD = -1.40), ocular symptom scores (SMD = -3.59), and quality of life (RQLQ, SMD = -2.98). A small but statistically significant increase in serum eosinophils (SMD = 0.29) was also noted, with unclear clinical meaning.
How it was done
Systematic review and meta-analysis of 14 RCTs enrolling 1,739 children under 18 years, comparing probiotics, prebiotics, or synbiotics to placebo, using random-effects models with Hedges' g and I² for heterogeneity.
Risk of bias
Heterogeneity is prohibitively high across primary outcomes (I² 91–96%), rendering pooled SMDs statistically unstable and clinically uninterpretable. Strain identity, dosing, intervention duration, and primary study risk of bias are not detailed in the abstract.
What this study does NOT prove
The meta-analysis does not prove that probiotics produce clinically meaningful and reproducible control of allergic rhinitis in children.
In clinical practice
Available data do not support a blanket clinical recommendation for probiotics in pediatric allergic rhinitis. High heterogeneity prevents identification of beneficial strains or patient subgroups.
Limitations
Heterogeneity is prohibitively high across primary outcomes (I² 91–96%), rendering pooled SMDs statistically unstable and clinically uninterpretable. Strain identity, dosing, intervention duration, and primary study risk of bias are not detailed in the abstract.
Technical appendix
Version history
- 1.0 · 2026-06-25 — Auto-generated under Evidence Standard v1.0
Paid access: structured summary from public metadata; consult the original study at the source.