The efficacy of probiotic preparations on inflammatory cytokines in patients with chronic kidney disease: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Probiotics supplementation has emerged as adjuvant therapy for chronic kidney disease (CKD) in recent years. However, the effects of probiotic preparations on serum inflammatory cytokine levels are still highly controversial and poorly documented. Therefore, we performed the protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis to further clarify the effects of probiotic preparations in CKD patients. METHODS: This review will develop following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement guidelines. We searched literature published until May, 2021 thoroughly in PUBMED, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases on May, 2021. The risk of bias of included studies was estimated by taking into consideration the characteristics including random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding of patients, blinding of outcome assessment, completeness of outcome data, selective reporting, and other bias by Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing the risk of bias. Data synthesis and analyses were performed using Stata version 10.0 software. RESULTS: The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. CONCLUSION: We hypothesized that probiotic preparations may decrease the serum levels of inflammatory cytokines and protect the intestinal epithelial barrier of patients with CKD.