CASP Systemic Review Checklist

This study was appraised using the CASP systemic review checklist to determine the validity of the study. The review had a clearly defined problem that was easily discernible. The intervention that was used for the purpose of this review was probiotics as a method to minimize AAD. Additionally, the authors of the study used the appropriate type of papers to include in the systematic review. Only RCTs were included in the review. The population identified were adults and children who had been administered antibiotics for any purpose. Both inpatient and outpatient population groups were used. These RCTs had the appropriate design to complete this systematic review. Research studies until the databases MEDLINE, Cochrane Library and EMBASE were included in the systematic review and …show more content…
Additionally, in nine of the selected RCTs, patients were administered two antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor. This may have affected the results by adding in an additional variable of a proton pump inhibitor into the study. As well, the dosage of S. boulardii that was administered in each study was variable. The administered doses of the probiotic varied from 50 to 1000 mg. The criteria for what the definition of AAD also differed between the selected studies. Some studies defined AAD as more than three or more loose stools in a 24 period, however other studies had defined it as three loose stools in 24 to 48 hours. A major limitation of this systematic review is that the quality of the methodology in the included RCTs varied. Furthermore, the sample size calculation was only used in eleven of the RCTs, resulting in half of the chosen RCTs to not have sample size calculations included. Furthermore, only six of the selected trials were in children and fifteen were in the selected adult