Background: Gastroenteritis is an infection of the gastrointestinal tract, and the most common cause of acute diarrhea is viral infection, especially rotavirus. Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of mortality and disability in children worldwide. Probiotics, as a supportive care, are prescribed by specialists for children with acute diarrhea. In the present study, we compare the severity of symptoms and the duration of hospitalization of children with viral diarrhea between two types of probiotics.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. 132 children aged 6 months to 6 years with a diagnosis of acute viral gastroenteritis were selected and divided into three groups of 44 participants each. The groups were Kidilact powder, Yomogi capsules, and a control group. They were compared based on the duration of hospitalization, frequency of diarrhea, and intravenous fluid intake. Findings were analyzed using binomial logistic regression and ANCOVA.
Findings: There were no significant differences in the mean frequency of diarrhea, duration of hospitalization (P = 0.018), duration of diarrhea (P = 0.012), and amount of intravenous fluid (P = 0.039) among the three groups. Even though the children in the Kidilact group had a more acute situation on the first and second days compared with controls, by the fourth day, the number of diarrheal episodes decreased rapidly among them. Similarly, in the Yomogi group, the mean number of diarrheal episodes decreased sharply by the third day. On the fifth day and beyond, almost all children in both groups were free of diarrhea (95.5% vs. 97.7%).
Conclusion: This study indicates that the use of Kidilact powder or Yomogi capsules has additional benefits to standard supportive care, and there was no statistical difference between the Yomogi and Kidilact groups.