Role of Probiotic and Racecadotril as an Adjuvant Therapy in Management of Acute Watery Diarrhea in Children

Objective: To see the role of nonspecific antidiarrheal agents as Probiotics and Racecadotril as an adjuvant therapy among children presenting with acute watery diarrhea Methodology: This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in Pediatric Department Fatima Memorial Hospital Lahore from July 2023 to December 2023. One hundred and sixty children were included in this study and were equally divided in two study groups. Probiotics was given in Group A and Racecadotril treatment was given in Group B (1.5 mg/kg every eight hours). The effect of both agents was evaluated at 24 hours and 48 hours after admission in terms of improvement in the stool consistency. Results: Out of 160 children, 97 (60.6%) were male. The mean age was 15.73 ± 9.75 months. The average duration of diarrhea before starting treatment was 2.51 ± 1.21 days, with an average of 13.56 ± 3.85 stools per day. The average number of episodes was significantly lower with Racecadotril (8.08 ± 2.97 on day 1 and 3.68 ± 1.98 on day 2) compared to Probiotics (10.01 ± 3.79 on day 1 and 7.45 ± 2.92 on day 2) with p value 0.000 on both day 1 and day 2 comparison. The result showed that Racecadotril demonstrated better efficacy compared to probiotics with significant improvement in stool grades on the first and second day of treatment (p value 0.000 and 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: We concluded that Racecadotril is significantly more effective in treating acute watery diarrhea in children.