Background and Objective: Obstructive uropathy is one of the congenital abnormalities of children, which can lead to chronic renal failure if not treated and given proper prophylaxis. The present study aimed to assess the effect of probiotics in children with congenital obstructive uropathy.
Materials and Methods: In this cohort study, 199 children aged 2 months to 5 years with congenital obstructive uropathy were referred to the pediatric nephrology clinic in Hamadan, Iran. These children were treated by a specialist with antibiotics (95 children) or probiotics (104 children) based on the existing treatment protocol and were evaluated. Patients in both groups were assessed and compared in terms of urinary infection recovery time and disease recurrence. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 26).
Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the age of the children and their gender. Moreover, most of the children under study in both groups had a mild form of congenital obstructive uropathy, and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the severity of the children's disease. The duration of recovery in the probiotic group was 13.6 months, significantly less than in the antibiotic group (16.1 months) (P=0.045). In addition, in the probiotic group, the disease relapsed in 6 patients (5.6%), and in the antibiotic group, it relapsed in 12 patients (12.6%). This difference was not statistically significant between the two groups (P=0.092).
Conclusion: Given the relatively similar effects of antibiotics and probiotics on preventing recurrence of congenital obstructive uropathy and urinary tract infection, it seems that probiotics are a suitable alternative to antibiotics in avoiding or reducing recurrence of congenital obstructive uropathy.