Oral rehydration solution containing trisodium citrate for treating severe diarrhoea: controlled clinical trial.

BMJ 1991;302:88-9 Oral rehydration solutions are highly effective for treating most patients with dehydration due to diarrhoea. Early formulations contained glucose and three salts: sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and potassium chloride. Subsequently, a formulation containing trisodium citrate dihydrate instead of sodium bicarbonate was shown to be more stable under high humidity and temperature conditions and equally effective in treating dehydration and acidosis due to diarrhoea'; in one study of patients with cholera the severity ofpurging was significantly less and in another study there was a similar trend.23 In a randomised double blind trial we compared the two solutions.