BACKGROUND: The taste of oral liquid medications influences compliance in children. Generic preparations are prescribed to reduce cost and may taste worse than brand name products. METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized, double blind, crossover trial of the differences in taste and compliance between brand and generic antibiotic suspensions in children 3 to 14 years of age. Verbal and visual assessment methods were used to assess taste, and compliance was measured by the amount of drug returned after use. RESULTS: Ten children in each of the cephalexin and erythromycin-sulfisoxazole groups did not report that the brand and generic formulations tasted differently. Fifteen children thought that brandtrimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole tasted better than the generic preparation. CONCLUSIONS: Brand name oral liquid antibiotics do not necessarily taste better than their generic counterparts. Despite preference for the taste of brand trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, all of the children in this study were compliant with both brand and generic medications.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: The taste of oral liquid medications influences compliance in children. Generic preparations are prescribed to reduce cost and may taste worse than brand name products. METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized, double blind, crossover trial of the differences in taste and compliance between brand and generic antibiotic suspensions in children 3 to 14 years of age. Verbal and visual assessment methods were used to assess taste, and compliance was measured by the amount of drug returned after use. RESULTS: Ten children in each of the cephalexin and erythromycin-sulfisoxazole groups did not report that the brand and generic formulations tasted differently. Fifteen children thought that brand trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole tasted better than the generic preparation. CONCLUSIONS: Brand name oral liquid antibiotics do not necessarily taste better than their generic counterparts. Despite preference for the taste of brand trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, all of the children in this study were compliant with both brand and generic medications.
Authors: Robert Cohen; France de La Rocque; Aurélie Lécuyer; Claudie Wollner; Marie Josée Bodin; Alain Wollner Journal: Eur J Pediatr Date: 2008-10-29 Impact factor: 3.183
Authors: Nakissa Sadrieh; James Brower; Lawrence Yu; William Doub; Arthur Straughn; Stella Machado; Frank Pelsor; Emmanuelle Saint Martin; Terry Moore; John Reepmeyer; Duckhee Toler; Agnes Nguyenpho; Rosemary Roberts; Donald J Schuirmann; Moheb Nasr; Lucinda Buhse Journal: Pharm Res Date: 2005-09-22 Impact factor: 4.200