Evaluation of Racecadotril in Treatment of Acute Diarrhea in Children

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 rehydrationsolution (ORS) plus oral racecadotril (1.5 mg/kg 3 times/day) and control group had only ORS (30 patients each), Group II 90 outpatients, allottedinto three 30 patients each (15 as control and 15 as treatment group each), Group II a, control used nitazoxanide (100 mg/5 ml oral suspension3 times/day), treatment group used nitazoxanide and racecadotril, Group II B, control had metronidazole (40 mg/ml syrup 3times/day), treatmenthad 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 ofdiarrhea 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, metronidazoleand 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 the7 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