In children presenting to the paediatric emergency department (PED) with acute gastroenteritis, does the use of probiotics lead to a shorter duration of diarrhoeal symptoms?

A short review of the literature was conducted to assess whether probiotics shorten the duration of diarrhoeal symptoms in children presenting with acute gastroenteritis to the paediatric emergency department (PED). A keyword search of Cochrane, EMBASE, MEDLINE and Google Scholar identified five relevant papers. The author, patient group, study type, key results and study weaknesses were tabulated. Our review concludes that probiotics should not be prescribed to PED patients with gastroenteritis, as they do not appear to reduce the duration of diarrhoeal symptoms.