Oral Rehydration in Children with Acute Diarrhoea and Moderate Dehydration-Effectiveness of an ORS Tolerance Test

Abstract

Oral rehydration solution (ORS) is the mainstay of treatment of acute watery diarrhoea, but it is underutilized in many hospitals, resulting in children with moderate degrees of dehydration being unnecessarily hospitalized and receiving intravenous fluids. We aimed to assess the utility of an ORS tolerance test on initial presentation to an emergency department, and determine the volume of ORS a child with diarrhoea and moderate dehydration needed to tolerate to be successfully managed at home. One hundred and twenty-nine children with acute watery diarrhoea and moderate dehydration were given ORS and observed in a Children's Emergency Department (CED) over a period of 2-4 h. Patients were admitted, kept in the CED for further management or discharged, based on the assessment of oral intake and the clinical judgement of the treating health workers. Seventy-nine (61.2%) patients tolerated ORS well. They drank a median [interquartile range (IQR)] of 24.4 ml (IQR 12.5-28.8) ml/kg, were judged to have passed the ORS test and were discharged to continue oral rehydration treatment at home. At follow-up on days 2 and 5, 63/79 (79.7%) children had improved, were adequately hydrated and the diarrhoea had reduced. Sixteen of the 79 (20.3%) failed oral home treatment, with persisting diarrhoea, vomiting, hypokalaemia and/or weakness. The 63 who succeeded had tolerated a median of 25.8 (IQR 18.4-30.0) ml/kg of ORS in the CED, whilst the 16 who failed oral home treatment had tolerated 11.1 (IQR 9.1-23.0) ml/kg ORS (p < 0.001).

Keywords: Papua New Guinea; diarrhoea and dehydration; home care; oral rehydration solution.