CHAPTER 7 ORAL VS. IV REHYDRATION

Oral vs. Intravenous Rehydration of Moderately Dehydrated Children: A Randomized, Controlled trial.

Spandorfer PR, Alessandrini EA, Joffe MD, et al. Pediatrics. 2005;115(2):295–301

BACKGROUND

Despite guidelines recommending that oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is the recommended first-line treatment for mild and moderate dehydration due to gastroenteritis, a 2002 survey found that 75% of clinicians with endorsed knowledge of these guidelines almost exclusively used intravenous (IV) hydration.¹ A multitude of factors have been cited as potential sources of this discrepancy including beliefs about parents’ expectations, the presence of vomiting, and the time and resources involved in administering oral rehydration. This study aimed to elucidate the failure rates of ORT and to evaluate the overall impact of ORT on hospital resources and patient experience.

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether the failure rate of ORT in moderately dehydrated patients would be less than 5% of the failure rate observed in patients who received IV hydration.

METHODS

Randomized, controlled, single-blind, noninferiority study conducted at an urban tertiary children’s hospital ED from 2001 to 2003.

Patients

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