Probiotics given to preterm infants have been shown to reduce the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis, death, and late-onset invasive infection, but concerns persist about the risk of sepsis from probiotic organisms.In a retrospective cohort study of over 100,000 very preterm infants, 11 developed Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus invasive infections, eight of whom were given probiotics and three who were not.Probiotic supplementation was associated with an absolute increase of 0.04% in Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus infection, equivalent to one invasive infection per roughly 2,500 supplemented infants.
Probiotic-associated invasive infections were rare in very preterm infants, according to a large retrospective cohort study.
Among over 100,000 very preterm infants, 11 developed Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus invasive infections. Eight had been given probiotics (0.04%) while three had not (0.003%), reported Ravi Mangal Patel, MD, MSc, of Emory University School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and colleagues.
In overall unmatched and propensity-matched analyses, probiotic supplementation was associated with an absolute increase of 0.04% in Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus infection (95% CI 0.01-0.06), equivalent to one invasive infection per roughly 2,500 supplemented infants (95% CI 1,667-10,000), they wrote in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.
