Gut microbiome profile among children and adolescents living with sickle cell disease: a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

This systematic review aims to synthesise current evidence on gut microbiome profiles among children with sickle cell disease (SCD), assess the influence of analgesic and antibiotic use, and explore the contributions of environmental factors on their gut microbiota diversity. Through identification of consistent microbial patterns and gaps in the existing literature, this review will provide vital insight into potential microbiome-targeted strategies for improving health outcomes in paediatric SCD care. Studies describing the gut microbiota among paediatric SCD human subjects (<18 years) will be identified by searching PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus from inception to November 2025. Two independent reviewers will complete title and abstract screening, full-text review and data extraction. The grading of recommendations assessment, development and evaluation tool will be employed to assess the strength of evidence for each outcome. Extracted data will be presented in tables, and a meta-analysis will be conducted if appropriate. Ethical approval will not be required as this is a systematic review of published data. The findings will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at relevant scientific conferences. CRD420251102736.