The global incidence of adverse events associated with fecal microbiota transplantation in children over the past 20 years: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract Objectives To understand the global incidence of the adverse events associated with fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in children over the past 20 years. Methods We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and three Chinese databases (CNKI, Wanfang, and Chongqing Weipu) for high‐quality articles written over the past 20 years and made selections based on the quality standard score. The study characteristics and incidences of adverse events were extracted from each article, meta‐analysis was performed using the R.3.6.3 software, and randomized‐effect or fixed‐effect meta‐analyses were used to determine the incidence of adverse events. Subgroup analysis was performed to determine heterogeneity. Results A total of 18 articles involving 681 children were included in the analysis. The total effective rate of FMT in children was 85.75% (95% CI: 76.23–93.15%), of which the overall efficacy of FMT for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection was 91.22% (95% CI: 83.49–96.68%) and the overall adverse event rate was 28.86% (95% CI: 19.56–39.15%), with a mild to moderate adverse event rate of 27.72% (95% CI: 17.86–38.83%) and a severe adverse event rate of 0.90% (95% CI: 0.33–1.76%). The most common mild to moderate adverse events were as follows: bellyache, 14.02% (95% CI: 5.43–25.77%); diarrhea, 7.75% (95% CI: 2.69–15.11%); and bloating, 7.36% (95% CI: 1.79–16.28%). Other adverse events included fever, 2.34%; vomiting, 3.12%; nausea, 1.50%; hematochezia, 2.30%; anorexia, 1.94%; and fatigue, 0.03%. The only death reported was in a study from China, in which the patient died of sepsis and liver failure 4 weeks after FMT. The other serious adverse event was an immunodeficiency patient with severe hematochezia. Another study in the United States described seven serious adverse events including one death that was not considered to be related to FMT; however, they did not describe the events in detail. There was no difference in the incidence of adverse events between the upper and lower gastrointestinal tracts (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.02–15.42, P = 0.76). Conclusion Adverse events related to FMT in children are mostly mild to moderate, of short duration, and self‐limiting. Therefore, the use of FMT in children is safe and worthy of widespread promotion.