Efficacy of probiotic agents as therapy for intestinal constipation in clinical practice: An integrative review

Abstract

Currently, constipation is characterized by the difficulty that a person presents when they persistently evacuate, where the individual may have a sensation of incomplete evacuation and/or infrequent bowel movements. Probiotics are live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate doses help to restore a person's microbiota balance by offering various benefits directly or not related to the gastrointestinal tract. This work aimed to analyze the scientific production on the efficacy of the use of probiotic agents in the treatment of intestinal constipation. The paper shows an integrative review of the literature, where the following clinical question was formulated: "What scientific evidences recommend the use of probiotics as a therapy for intestinal constipation in clinical practice?". In the search strategies employed, we verified the selection of eight (08) articles, which were identified from A1 to A8. Most articles (8/100%) were in the English language, most publications were concentrated in the year 2017 (8 / 4-50%) and there were predominant studies in the United States and Italy (8 / 4- 50%). Regarding the nature of the study, there was a prevalence of randomized clinical trials (8 / 5-62.5%). From the analysis of the studies it is understood that probiotics play a significant role in some gastrointestinal problems in both children and adults. However, the available evidence demonstrates that they are not sufficient in the treatment of intestinal constipation.