Glucose Oral Solution as A Pain-Relieving Agent In Infantile Colic: A Double Blinded Randomized Clinical Trial

Background Infantile colic (IC) is a common painful disorder within early months of life. There is no definitive therapeutics for IC. In present study aimed to assess pain-relieving potential of glucose administration in infantile colic. Materials and Methods This was a double blinded randomized clinical trial performed during May 2015-June 2017 in pediatric ward of Amir-Al-Momenin Hospital, Zabol city, Iran. Overall, 72 infants were randomly assigned to either glucose or simethicone groups (36 infants per group). Treatments were continued for 28 days with either 25% or 30% glucose solution and 2.5 mg/kg simethicone. Outcomes were assessed at the end of the intervention (28 days). Statistical analysis was done in SPSS version 22.0. Results Males and females constituted 20 (55.5%), and 16 (45.5%) in glucose administrated, and 23 (63.8%) and 13 (36.2%, P=0.4) in simethicone group respectively. The mean age (days) was 19.1±3.8 and 20.2±4.9 for glucose and simethicone administrated groups, respectively (P=0.2). The crying times per day significantly reduced in both groups (mean reduction in crying times of 3.7±2.1, and 6.3±2.1 hours in glucose and simethicone groups, respectively). Moreover, 25% and 44.4% of infants in glucose and simethicone groups achieved ≥ 50% reduction in crying time, respectively (P=0.06). According to the glucose dose, infants who received 30% glucose solution significantly revealed higher ratio of ≥ 50% reduction in crying time (47.3%) than those received 25% glucose solution in which no cases fulfilled this outcome (P<0.0001). Conclusion Glucose may be a useful candidate to be considered as a pain-relieving agent in infantile colic.

Keywords:

Abdominal Cramps , Glucose , Infantile colic , Simethicone