Evaluation of Racecadotril in Treatment of Acute Diarrhea in Children
Abstract
Objective: The aim was to assess efficacy of racecadotril as an adjuvant therapy in children 2-6 years in age with acute diarrhea.
Materials and Methods: A randomized control study on two major groups, Group I 60 patients hospitalized, treatment group received oral rehydration
solution (ORS) plus oral racecadotril (1.5 mg/kg 3 times/day) and control group had only ORS (30 patients each), Group II 90 outpatients, allotted
into three 30 patients each (15 as control and 15 as treatment group each), Group II a, control used nitazoxanide (100 mg/5 ml oral suspension
3 times/day), treatment group used nitazoxanide and racecadotril, Group II B, control had metronidazole (40 mg/ml syrup 3times/day), treatment
had racecadotril and metronidazole, Group II C, control used ORS only, treatment used racecadotril and ORS, outcome measures was stool output
(in g); total stool output, duration of diarrhea and number and consistency of stools in Group I and number and consistency of stools, duration of
diarrhea and number of children followed-up after treatment in Group II.
Results: In Group I racecadotril with ORS reduced 48 hrs stool output significantly (91.55 g/kg ± 4.86) as compared to ORS group (183.4 ± 9.91)
(P<0.001), duration of diarrhea in days reduced significantly (4.56 ± 0.38 vs. 5.93 ± 0.30), in Group II racecadotril with nitazoxanide, metronidazole
and ORS improved duration of diarrhea (2.9 ± 0.3, 3.9 ± 0.3, 4.9 ± 0.2) respectively (P<0.001) number of solid stools increased from initial visit to the
7 days visit in whole group.
Conclusion: Racecadotril is effective as an adjuvant therapy for treatment acute diarrhea in children.
Keywords: Children, Acute diarrhea, Racecadotril, Adjuvant therapy.
Downloads
References
Strand TA, Sharma PR, Gjessing HK, Ulak M, Chandyo RK,
Adhikari RK, et al. Risk factors for extended duration of acute diarrhea
in young children. PLoS One 2012;7(5):e36436.
Farthing MJ. Novel agents for the control of secretory diarrhoea. Expert
Opin Investig Drugs 2004;13(7):777-85.
Alam S, Bhatnagar S. Current status of anti-diarrheal and anti-secretory
drugs in the management of acute childhood diarrhea. Indian J Pediatr
;73(8):693-6.
Matheson AJ, Noble S. Racecadotril. Drugs 2000;59(4):829-35.
Farthing MJ. Introduction. Enkephalinase inhibition: A rational
approach to antisecretory therapy for acute diarrhoea. Aliment
Pharmacol Ther 1999;13 (Suppl 6):1-2.
Lecomte JM. An overview of clinical studies with racecadotril in adults.
Int J Antimicrob Agents 2000;14(1):81-7.
Xu Y, Huang J, Liu F, Gao S, Guo Q. Quantitative analysis of racecadotril
metabolite in human plasma using a liquid chromatography/tandem
mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci
;852(1-2):101-7.
Primi MP, Bueno L, Baumer P, Berard H, Lecomte JM. Racecadotril
demonstrates intestinal antisecretory activity in vivo. Aliment
Pharmacol Ther 1999;13 (Suppl 6):3-7.
Turvill JL, Farthing MJ. Role of the neuroendocrine system in
pathogenesis of gastroenteritis. Curr Opin Infect Dis 2000;13(5):523-29.
UNICEF/WHO. Diarrhea: Why Children are Still Dying and What Can
be Done. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2009.
Guarino A, Dupont C, Gorelov AV, Gottrand F, Lee JK, Lin Z, et al.
The management of acute diarrhea in children in developed and
developing areas: From evidence base to clinical practice. Expert Opin
Pharmacother 2012;13(1):17-26.
Salazar-Lindo E, Santisteban-Ponce J, Chea-Woo E, Gutierrez M.
Racecadotril in the treatment of acute watery diarrhea in children.
N Engl J Med 2000;343(7):463-7.
Cézard JP, Duhamel JF, Meyer M, Pharaon I, Bellaiche M, Maurage C,
et al. Efficacy and tolerability of racecadotril in acute diarrhea in
children. Gastroenterology 2001;120(4):799-805.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
The publication is licensed under CC By and is open access. Copyright is with author and allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions.