Background: There is a connection between the skin and gut microbiota, established through the immune, metabolic, and neuroendocrine system. Through various mechanisms and metabolic products, they can influence each other and trigger changes in their composition, thereby affecting the condition of the skin and gut. This connection is becoming increasingly interesting in the field of treatment for atopic dermatitis, which is characterized by imbalanced skin and gut microbiota that contribute to a weakened skin barrier. Probiotics are thus becoming one of the treatment options for atopic dermatitis, as they can help regulate the skin and gut microbiota, thereby reducing inflammation, improving the skin barrier function, and alleviating symptoms of this disease.
Methods: We conducted a systematic review of global trends in clinical trials on the effects of probiotics on atopic dermatitis using the databases Clinicaltrials.org, Cochrane Library, and Semantic Scholar. We included studies that investigated the effects of both oral and topical probiotics on patients with atopic dermatitis of all ages. In the literature review, we limited our focus to freely accessible clinical trials written in English.
Results: Through the systematic review, we identified a total of 20 clinical studies that met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of the ones mentioned, 17 studied the effect of oral probiotics and 3 of topical probiotics. Most of the studies were randomized and double-blind, typically including a test and a placebo group. Probiotics have shown efficacy in reducing symptoms of atopic dermatitis in most of them. By analysing the global trends in clinical trials, we found that most of them were conducted in the Eastern Hemisphere, some of them in the previous two decades.
Conclusion: Although the field of probiotics' effects on atopic dermatitis is relatively new, the results already show a significant degree of therapeutic success, and their use shows great potential as one of the alternative approaches for the treatment of this disease.
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