The quality of the reporting was
low; 59 trials lacked adequate information
to assess the overall risk of
bias. Results of the quality assessment
for individual features are
shown in TABLE 1. Half the RCTs
reported only the genus and species
that were used in the intervention
but not the strain (41/82), and many
did not state that treatment allocation
was concealed (64/82), or did
not report an intention-to-treat
analysis (31/82). Nearly half did not
report a power calculation (39/82).
However, 53 of the 82 trials reported
that participants and outcome assessors
were blind to the intervention.
Seventeen trials were classified as
industry sponsored; 52 did not
clarify the role of funding, questions
about conflict of interest remained,
or both; and 13 trials explicitly stated
no competing interest.