Probiotics and Hospital Outcome in the Elderly

Kaplan-Harzfeld Medical Center345 enrolled

Overview

Probiotics have been shown to reduce the rate of diarrhea and constipation. The purpose of this study was to investigate if probiotics could improve outcome of hospitalized orthopedic elderly patients.

The patients were divided into two groups. One received probiotics for 45 days and the second received placebo. The patients had a clinical and epidemiological as well as nutritional assessment. They were followed-up as for their bowel movements, abdominal pain and nosocomial infections and for the incidence of helicobacter pylori and clostridiume difficille diarrhea.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Enrollment

345

Conditions

Diarrhea Constipation

Interventions

VSL#3DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

one sachet per day, for 45 consecutive days

placeboDIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

one sachet per day, for 45 consecutive days

Eligibility

Sex: ALL

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients who were hospitalized in the Department of Geriatric Orthopedic Rehabilitation a week before their enrollment in the study and signed an informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: * Known or suspected allergy to any probiotics * Neutropenia * Inability to sign an informed consent

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Reduction in Number of Days of Either Constipation or Diarrhea in Comparison to the Control Group

Gastrointestinal motility was assessed by the number of days a patient was constipated or had diarrhea.

Time frame: 45 days of measuring the outcome

Secondary Outcomes

Improvement in Nutritional and Immunological Measurements

Time frame: 45 days

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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