The Effect of Adding Synbiotics to Polyethylene Glycol in Childhood Functional Constipation: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study

Background This study aimed to determine effects of synbiotics on treatment of functional constipation in children aged 2-10 years old. Materials and Methods This randomized single blind clinical trial study carried out on children who had functional constipation based on the Rome III criteria. The  polyethylene glycol + synbiotic group (P+S group, n=38)received the synbiotic with polyethylene glycol 0.6 gr/kg daily for 4 weeksfollowed bytonly polyethylene glycol for the following four weeks. The polyethylene glycol group (P group n=41) received polyethylene glycol for eight weeks. Then 8 after treatment, frequency of defecation, stool consistency, pain during defecation, fecal constipation and the percentage of patients who needed to continue their drug after 12 weeks treatment were compared between two groups. Results The differences in the mean frequencies of defecation (P=0.36), stool consistency (P>0.05), pain during defecation (P>0.05), incontinence (P>0.05) between the two groups at the end of eight weeks were not significant (P>0.05). The end of 12 weeks, 27.8% of (P + S) group and 15.6% of (P) group needed to continue medication more than one time /week (P>0.05). Conclusion In this study,adding synbiotic to polyethylene was not more effective than only polyethylene in the treatment of childhood functional constipation.