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Palatability Assessment of Carbocysteine Oral Solution Strawberry Taste Versus Carbocysteine Oral Solution Mint

Yaguang Peng1, Huan Zhang2, Liucun Gao2

  • 1Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-based Medicine, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Frontiers in Pharmacology
|March 17, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Children preferred strawberry-flavored carbocysteine oral solution over mint. This study used a facial action coding system to assess palatability in pediatric patients, finding strawberry taste more appealing.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pharmacology
  • Sensory Science
  • Clinical Trial Design

Background:

  • Palatability of liquid medications is crucial for pediatric adherence.
  • Carbocysteine oral solutions are commonly prescribed for respiratory conditions.
  • Objective taste and preference data are needed to optimize pediatric formulations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the palatability of strawberry versus mint flavored carbocysteine oral solutions.
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of a facial action coding system for palatability assessment in children.
  • To determine children's taste preferences for pediatric pharmaceutical products.

Main Methods:

  • A randomized, triple-blind, crossover trial involving 42 healthy children aged 2-12 years.
  • Palatability assessed using the FaceReader™ facial action coding system for emotional valence.
  • Face-to-face interviews and taste preference rates collected for older children (5-12 years).

Main Results:

  • Strawberry-flavored carbocysteine showed significantly higher emotional valence scores compared to mint.
  • 69% of participants exhibited higher emotional valences for the strawberry preparation.
  • 88.5% of children aged 5+ preferred the strawberry taste, with 77.8% choosing it for re-administration.

Conclusions:

  • Strawberry-flavored carbocysteine oral solution is more palatable and better accepted by children.
  • The facial action coding system offers a viable, objective method for assessing pediatric product palatability.
  • Flavor optimization is key to improving medication adherence in pediatric populations.

Keywords:
carbocysteinecrossoverpalatabilitypediatric pharmaceutical productstaste assessment

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