title: Treatment of acute infantile diarrhoea with a commercial rice-based oral rehydration solution.
abstract: This randomized clinical trial compared the efficacy of an oral rehydration solution (ORS) formulated with commercial rice powder, 50 g/l, with that of a glucose-based WHO/UNICEF-recommended ORS in the management of 48 inpatients aged 3-24 months, with acute dehydrating watery diarrhoea. Stool outputs were generally high in these patients, and 11 patients (22%) required additional intravenous rehydration solutions. The stool output (ml/kg) in the first 24 hours was [geometric mean, (95% confidence intervals)] 213 (153-353) in the rice-ORS group versus 146 (108-232) in the glucose-ORS group, while the total stool output was 455 (298-933) versus 307 (209-625); (p value not significant). The mean (+/- SD) duration of diarrhoea in hospital was: 72 +/- 10 hours in the study group versus 77 +/- 12 hours in the control group (p value NS). Enteropathogens were found in 94% of the patients, rotavirus being prevalent in 85% of the cases. It is concluded that the rice-ORS used in this trial is no more efficacious than the standard glucose-ORS advocated by WHO/UNICEF in the treatment of infants with watery non-cholera dehydrating diarrhoea. In some cases, ORS formulated with the commercial cereal-based products might actually increase the stool losses in infants with high-output non-cholera diarrhoea.
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guiraldes
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Triviño
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Hodgson
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Quintana
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quintana
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002677:Chile; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005440:Fluid Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012275:Oryza; D015532:Rehydration Solutions / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D015532:Rehydration Solutions