Children with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may recover more successfully with reassurance than with medication, according to a study from Federico II University in Naples, Italy.
Of 83 children in this single-center observational study, 30 of the 48 children (62.8%) who reported symptom resolution were not put on medication, according to Eleonora Giannetti, MD, and her colleagues (J Pediatr. 2017 Jan 18. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.12.036).
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Researchers assessed children using a symptom survey, having patients and their parents report “how often days off school or interruption of daily activities because of IBS were needed,” as well as a scale of disruption ranging from 0 to 4.
A total of 47 children received verbal reassurance only, with no medication, while 9 received polyethylene glycol, 24 received probiotics, and 3 received trimebutine (not available in the United States), according to Dr. Giannetti.
Dr. Giannetti and her colleagues argued the data showed not only a positive correlation between decreased symptoms and lack of pharmaceutical intervention, but a negative impact of medication on children with IBS.
“Despite larger interventional studies being needed, our results also seem to suggest that traditionally prescribed medications, particularly probiotics and [polyethlene glycol], poorly affect the progression of IBS symptoms,” Dr. Giannetti wrote. “There was even a trend toward worse outcome of patients receiving probiotics.”
Limitations included a small sample size and medication not being randomly allocated.
Researchers said they also were limited by a short time frame, which, in regards to the “recurrent nature” of IBS, makes it difficult for researchers to know if and when IBS is completely resolved.
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