A Review of Probiotic Interventions for Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Sepsis in Preterm Infants
spp., as potential adjunctive agents for the prevention and management of NEC and LOS in preterm infants, which is the area of focus of this review. The focus of this paper was to analyze clinical studies using different probiotic strains, and compare single-strain versus multi-strain probiotic formulations. Several studies support that probiotic supplementation in preterm infants has the potential to decrease NEC incidence and, to a lesser extent, sepsis/LOS. Nonetheless, inconsistent results due to strain differences and clinical heterogeneity limit the widespread adoption of this mode of therapy, as do safety concerns in this vulnerable population. Further high-quality standardized studies are necessary to establish consistent guidelines for probiotic use in preterm infants.
Authors
- Yatinesh Kumari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6544-1243)
- Angel Yun-Kuan Thye
- Kok‐Gan Chan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1883-1115)
- Jodi Woan‐Fei Law (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2344-4571)
- Loh Teng‐Hern Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1421-3130)
- Hui Xuan Lim
- Vengadesh Letchumanan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2145-6854)
- Priyia Pusparajah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9245-0177)
- Learn−Han Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8589-7456)
Institutions
- Monash University Malaysia (MY)
- University of Nottingham Ningbo China (CN)
- University of Malaya (MY)
- Monash Health (AU)
- Monash University (AU)
- Sunway University (MY)
Publication Details
- Journal
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences
- Published
- 2026-04-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27083602
- Primary Topic
- Infant Nutrition and Health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia