A community-based randomized trial of home-made oral rehydration therapies

A field trial of the relative efficacy of three oral rehydration therapies (ORT) in the treatment of acute childhood diarrhoea in children < 5 years old was carried out in a rural Ethiopian district. The three ORT were 1) pre-packaged glucose and salt solution (GORS; n = 153), 2) home-made cereal added to pre-packaged salt solution (CBORS; n = 154), and 3) entirely home-made cereal-based and salt therapy (CBORT; n = 156). Out of 127 eligible peasant associations, 18 were randomly selected, and groups of six were then randomly assigned to receive one of the three treatment options. In infants aged 0-12 months, after adjusting for baseline weight and diarrhoea frequency, CBORT was found to be superior (P < 0.01) to GORS and CBORS in terms of weight gain at 24, 48, and 96 hours. There were no significant between-group differences in weight gain in children > 12 months old. Over the 96-hour duration of follow-up, mothers' compliance was significantly better among those giving CBORT when compared to CBORS (P < 0.001) or GORS (P < 0.013). The results of this field trial indicate that CBORT is an efficacious alternative to GORS or CBORS in the treatment of acute childhood diarrhoea in rural community settings. Larger scale, effectiveness studies are recommended.