Hyoscine butylbromide versus acetaminophen for nonspecific colicky abdominal pain in children: a randomized controlled trial
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- Posted on: (11 May 2021)Page navigation anchor for RE: Lack of a placebo armRE: Lack of a placebo arm
- Naveen Poonai [MD], Paediatric Emergency Physician, Children's Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre, Western University
Thank you for this comment. In the electronic version, this appears under Ethics Approval. At our centre, it would have been difficult to have a placebo arm without increasing the risk for a "drop in", meaning that patients randomized to a non-active intervention would have likely ended up getting acetaminophen, in a non-randomized fashion and we would have had to account for this in the sample size calculation. The article emphasizes that acetaminophen would be the preferred choice for functional pain in children because it's available in liquid formulation and is available over the counter. Therefore, we don't anticipate our work will change prescribing patterns but rather empower providers to model pain assessment and timely provision of analgesia to children with abdominal pain.
Competing Interests: None declared.References
- Naveen Poonai, Kriti Kumar, Kamary Coriolano, et al. Hyoscine butylbromide versus acetaminophen for nonspecific colicky abdominal pain in children: a randomized controlled trial. CMAJ 2020;192:E1612-E1619.
- Posted on: (7 May 2021)Page navigation anchor for RE: lack of placebo armRE: lack of placebo arm
- ayaz ramji [MBBCh FRCP], General Pediatrician, Victoria Square Pedaitirc Centre
I am interested in knowing why the Ethics committee did not approve of a placebo arm in this study? There is also no mention of this deficiency in the print summary. This might only add to the already unnecessary prescribing of a variety of analgesics and antispasmodics by healthcare providers for this common condition.
Competing Interests: None declared.References
- Naveen Poonai, Kriti Kumar, Kamary Coriolano, et al. Hyoscine butylbromide versus acetaminophen for nonspecific colicky abdominal pain in children: a randomized controlled trial. CMAJ 2020;192:E1612-E1619.