← Issue №16/ week of Oct 18, 2026/Motility

Heterogeneous Response Patterns to Multispecies Probiotics in Patients With Constipation During Pregnancy: An Exploratory Analysis of a Phase 2 Clinical Trial.

From GI Signals issue №16: what this paper found, what it changes, and where it sits against the current standard of care, reviewed by Simon Mathews, MD.

Motility rct · n=122 · Oct 11, 2026 · J Gastro Hep · IF 3.5

Heterogeneous Response Patterns to Multispecies Probiotics in Patients With Constipation During Pregnancy: An Exploratory Analysis of a Phase 2 Clinical Trial.

New evidencemicrobiomechronic constipation
Clinical takeawayMultispecies probiotics did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint in this trial. Consider awaiting further evidence before routine use in pregnant patients with constipation.
What it foundMultispecies probiotics did not significantly improve the primary endpoint (22.78% response rate vs 20.51% placebo, p=0.779) in pregnant patients with constipation over 8 weeks.
ContextPost hoc subgroup analyses suggested potentially heterogeneous response trajectories based on baseline bowel frequency, straining severity, stool consistency, and gestational age, but these findings require cautious interpretation.
No standard claimed for this paper

Every paper is compared to the standard governing its question. This one is not: either no standard in the corpus matches it, or the comparison did not hold up on review and was withdrawn rather than published unverified. Both are logged.

Zhiyue X … Xinghui L · Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology · IF 3.5 · PubMed ↗Permalink
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