Alterations of gut microbiota in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE
Alterations of gut microbiota were assumed to be the etiology and pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in some studies. However, alterations of gut microbiota in IBS patients had not been systematically assessed with a meta-analysis. We performed a mate-analysis to explore and compare the alterations of gut microbiota in IBS patients from China and other regions around the world.


METHODS
Case-control studies detecting gut microbiota in IBS patients were identified through English and Chinese databases. The standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) of bacterial counts was calculated.


RESULTS
Ten studies from China and seven studies from other regions around the world were included in our study. As compared with healthy controls, the SMDs of Bifidobacteria, Lactobacillus, Escherichia Coli, and Enterobacter in Chinese IBS patients were -1.42 (CI: -2.10, -0.75), -0.91 (95% CI: -1.31, -0.52), 0.83 (95% CI: 0.26, 1.40), and 0.57 (95% CI: 0.33, 0.82), respectively. But the SMDs of Bacteroides and Enterococcus were found no significant differences in Chinese IBS patients. However, the SMDs of Bifidobacteria and Bacteroides in IBS patients from other regions were -0.76 (CI: -1.43, -0.09) and 1.17 (CI: 0.00, 2.35), while the SMDs of Lactobacillus, E. Coli, Enterobacter, and Enterococcus were found no significant differences.


CONCLUSIONS
There were alterations of gut microbiota in IBS patients, and it implied that alterations of gut microbiota might be involved in the pathogenesis of IBS. However, the species-specific alterations of gut microbiota were different between IBS patients from China and other regions.
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Xiaojun
X
Zhuang
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Lishou
L
Xiong
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Li
L
Li
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Manying
M
Li
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Minhu
M
Chen
D058491:Bacterial Load; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D004754:Enterobacter / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000302:isolation & purification
gut microbiota; irritable bowel syndrome; meta-analysis