Probiotics as adjunctive treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

To determine if oral probiotics as adjunctive treatment are more effective than placebo in improving quality of life in patients with chronic inflammatory rhinosinusitis. Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. A total of 77 patients with chronic inflammatory rhinosinusitis were randomly assigned to receive oral probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus R0011 strain (500 million active cells/tablet twice daily) (n = 39) or oral placebo treatment (n = 38) for 4 weeks. In the probiotic group, the mean change from baseline in the SNOT-20 scores was significant at 4 weeks (P = 0.002) but not at 8 weeks (P = 0.37). Rhinological domain improved by 9.3 percent (P = 0.004) in probiotics group but returned to baseline level at 8 weeks. No significant differences were found between the probiotic and placebo groups in mean changes from baseline to 4 weeks (P = 0.79) or from baseline to 8 weeks (P = 0.23). No changes in symptom frequency were noted, either within each group or between treatment groups at 4 and 8 weeks. There was no difference in medication use or side effects between the two study groups. Oral use of the probiotic strain L rhamnosus R0011 did not improve sinonasal quality-of-life scores in patients with chronic inflammatory rhinosinusitis compared with placebo.