Evaluation of tolerability and major factors affecting the adherence to probiotic therapy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: a prospective, observational, real-life study.

BACKGROUND

Probiotics have been evaluated in multiple clinical trials on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, in real-life long-term compliance could be low. Our study is single-center, observational and prospective, aiming both to evaluate the adherence to prescription of probiotic therapy in real-life and to identify factors able to influence adherence to therapy.

METHODS

Fifty patients diagnosed with IBS according to Rome IV and receiving a clinical prescription of a multistrain probiotic preparation (VSL#3

RESULTS

Sixty percent of patients took all the prescribed probiotic therapy in real-life setting, with perceived benefits in more than 60% of cases. Among the 20 patients with reduced adherence, 5 took less than 50%, 12 took 50% and 2 took more than 50% but less than 80% of the prescribed doses. Principal reasons of not complete adherence among the 20 patients were: price of the product (8/20), mild adverse events (AEs) (6/20) and poor appreciation of flavour (3/20).

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggested that the adherence to probiotic therapy is affected by different factors in patients with IBS in a real-life setting. The main reason for lack of adherence was the price of the product. Other reasons are mild AEs (mainly bloating) and low palatability.