Complementary Effect of Metoclopramide in the Control of Vomiting Due to Acute Viral Gastroenteritis in Children: a Single- Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Acute gastroenteritis is associated with high mortality in childhood. A complication of the illness is dehydration, which should be well managed. This study aimed to analyze the effect of metoclopramide on the number of vomiting episodes in moderately dehydrated children with acute gastroenteritis. In this single-blinded clinical trial, 240 children of 1 to 7 years old with acute viral gastroenteritis were randomly classified into two groups of serum therapy (control) and metoclopramide (intervention). Children in the serum therapy group received dextrose 5% along with electrolytes management and those in the intervention group were treated with intravenous metoclopramide (0.1 mg/kg) and were subjected to serum therapy as well. The number of vomiting episodes was counted for 4 consecutive days. The obtained data were analyzed by the dispersion, t-student, and χ2 tests. A total of 240 patients participated in the study with 120 patients in each of the control and intervention groups. The mean incidents of vomiting in the intervention group significantly differed with the control group during the days one to four (p-values were 0.21, 0.007, 0.002, and 0.001 for the first to the fourth days, respectively).Metoclopramide can be used to prevent vomiting in children with gastroenteritis. However, to achieve a decisive result, it is recommended to perform further research at other centers and compare it with other conventional antiemetics. Clinical trial registration: This clinical trial was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) with number IRCT201205159766N1