The Role of Probiotics in Managing Glucose Homeostasis in Adults with Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 3

GRADE profile of evidence.

Quality assessment						Summary of findings			Quality of evidence
Outcomes	Risk of bias	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Publication bias	Number of participants in experiment/control	WMD (95% CI)	(%)
HbA1c	No serious limitations	Serious limitation^a	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	238/236	-0.44 (-0.84, -0.05)	76.13	⊕ ⊕ ⊕ ◯; Moderate
FBG	No serious limitations	No serious limitations	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	242/241	-0.10 (-0.28, 0.08)	0.50	⊕ ⊕ ⊕ ⊕; High
HOMA-IR	No serious limitations	No serious limitations	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	227/230	-0.27 (-0.45, 0.08)	0.00	⊕ ⊕ ⊕ ⊕; High
Insulin	No serious limitations	No serious limitations	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	242/241	-0.09 (-0.29, 0.10)	14.26	⊕ ⊕ ⊕ ⊕; High
TG	No serious limitations	Very serious limitation^ab	No serious limitation	Serious limitation^c	No serious limitation	160/156	-0.84 (-1.64, 0.68)	95.37	⊕ ◯ ◯ ◯; Very low
TC	No serious limitations	Very serious limitation^ab	No serious limitation	Serious limitation^c	No serious limitation	160/156	-0.77 (-2.38, 0.84)	97.38	⊕ ◯ ◯ ◯; Very low
HDL-C	No serious limitations	Serious limitation ^ab	No serious limitation	Serious limitation^c	No serious limitation	160/156	0.82 (0.26, 1.38)	80.24	⊕ ⊕ ◯ ◯; Low
LDL-C	No serious limitations	Very serious limitation^ab	No serious limitation	Serious limitation^c	No serious limitation	160/155	-0.95 (-2.53, 0.63)	97.22	⊕ ◯ ◯ ◯; Very low
BMI	No serious limitations	Serious limitation^a	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	No serious limitation	222/221	0.17 (-0.18, 0.53)	69.62	⊕ ⊕ ⊕ ◯; Moderate

^aThe test for heterogeneity is significant. ^bThe test for the confidence interval is wide. ^cThe sample size is small. Based on the number of limitations, the quality of outcomes is divided into four categories: high (⊕ ⊕ ⊕ ⊕), moderate (⊕ ⊕ ⊕ ◯), low (⊕ ⊕ ◯ ◯), and very low (⊕ ◯ ◯ ◯) quality.