Best evidence topic report. Smectite for acute diarrhoea in children.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether smectite was a useful therapy in acute diarrhoea. A total of 21 papers were found of which five presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that oral smectite appears to be effective at shortening the duration of the diarrhoea in children with acute diarrhoea rehydrated with oral rehydration solution.