Gastroenteritis in children.
BACKGROUND
Diarrhoea is defined as the frequent passage of unformed, liquid stools. Regardless of the cause, the mainstay of management of acute gastroenteritis is provision of adequate fluids to prevent and treat dehydration.


OBJECTIVE
We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects of treatments for acute gastroenteritis? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and other important databases up to August 2006 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).


RESULTS
We found 16 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: clear fluids, enteral rehydration solutions (oral or gastric), lactose-free feeds, loperamide.
Dalby-Payne
Jacqueline R
JR
The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia.
Elliott
Elizabeth J
EJ
D005759:Gastroenteritis; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration