Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Benefits of probiotics in rheumatoid arthritis patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Yaqi Yuan¹, Wei Ji¹ , Zhiguo Lin², Ke Gan²

¹The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China; ²Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China.

For correspondence:- Wei Ji Email: fsyy00855@njucm.edu.cn Tel:+862586617141

Accepted: 31 January 2023 Published: 28 February 2023

Citation: Yuan Y, Ji W, Lin Z, Gan K. Benefits of probiotics in rheumatoid arthritis patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(2):399-406 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i2.24

© 2023 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To determine the efficacy of probiotics in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Clinical trials were searched from online medicine databases. Outcomes such as changes in inflammatory cytokines and disability parameters such as American College of Rheumatology 20 % (ACR20) response, were analyzed.

Results: Nine trials were eligible, and 385 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that probiotic consumption significantly improved 28-joint disease activity (DAS28) score and decreased levels of high-sensitivity CRP (95 % CI = -3.23, -0.80; p = 0.001), tumor necrosis factor-α (95 % CI = -1.40, -0.67; p < 0.00001), interleukin (IL)-1β (95 % CI = -11.37, -0.84; p = 0.02) and IL-12 (95 % CI = -94.91, -53.58; p < 0.00001) in RA patients when compared with placebo. However, probiotics did not affect ACR20 response, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, IL-6, and IL-10, when compared with placebo.

Conclusion: The effects of probiotic consumption on RA are very beneficial and have some reference significance for formulating treatment guidelines for RA. However, more trials are needed to confirm the influence of probiotics on RA patients. Furthermore, more clinical trials with larger sample sizes are needed to affirm the effectiveness of probiotics in mitigating disability and inflammatory status in RA patients.

Keywords: Disease activity score, Tumor necrosis factor-Î±, Interleukin-1Î², Rheumatoid arthritis, Probiotics consumption