TY - JOUR T1 - Racecadotril did not improve diarrhoeal symptoms in children with moderate acute gastroenteritis JF - Archives of disease in childhood - Education & practice edition JO - Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed SP - 197 LP - 197 DO - 10.1136/adc.2010.192427 VL - 95 IS - 6 A2 - , Y1 - 2010/12/01 UR - http://ep.bmj.com/content/95/6/197.abstract N2 - Design Randomised controlled trial (RCT). Allocation Computer-generated block randomisation. Blinding Open-label (not explicitly stated). Setting Spanish tertiary paediatric accident and emergency department Patients A total of 189 children aged 3–36 months with acute gastroenteritis, defined as at least three loose stools within the preceding 24 h. Patients who had symptoms for more than 7 days, and those requiring hospitalisation were excluded. Intervention Of the 179 patients that were included in the efficacy analysis, 91 received standard oral rehydration solution (ORS) while 88 received ORS plus racecadotril (ORS+R). Racecadotril treatment was discontinued when the patient had two stools of normal consistency, or no bowel movement in the preceeding 12 h. Patients were re-assessed after 48 h and at 7 days. Outcomes The primary outcome was reduction of bowel movements within 48 h of initiating therapy. Secondary outcomes were duration of diarrhoea, number of doctor visits in the interim and safety and tolerability of the study drug. Follow-up period One week in total. High proportion of drop-outs: 137/189 (72%) patients returned … ER -