Across 3 studies, all reported beneficial effects of Lactobacillus reuteri MAK02L14R on reducing hospitalization duration. Effect sizes were mixed (small to large), with the small effect driven by a meta-analysis in children with acute gastroenteritis (MD -0.54 days, 95% CI [-1.09, 0.0], not significant) and a small significant RCT in the same population, while a large effect was observed in preterm neonates (-10.77 days). The most-studied populations were children with acute gastroenteritis and preterm neonates; doses were not consistently reported.
Caveats: Evidence is limited to 3 studies with inconsistent effect sizes across different populations; the largest effect in preterm neonates comes from an older systematic review (2015) with a very different baseline hospitalization duration, limiting generalizability. The pediatric gastroenteritis meta-analysis (2019) narrowly missed statistical significance (confidence interval included zero), and the small significant RCT (2019) had a modest effect. Doses were not reported in any study.
L. reuteri use was also associated with a reduced duration of hospitalization (three RCTs, n = 284, MD -0.54 days, 95% CI [-1.09, 0.0]).
Compared with the placebo group, patients in the L. reuteri group had a shorter duration of hospitalization (P = 0.048).
Meta-analysis of RCTs estimated that the duration of hospitalization (-10.77 days; 95% CI, -13.67 to -7.86; 3 RCTs) was reduced in the L reuteri group.