alleviating effects of ursodeoxycholic acid in children with acute hepatitis a infection: a randomized clinical trial

Objectives: ursodeoxycholic acid (udca) is a secondary hydrophilic bile acid with alleviating effects on liver enzymes. this study aimed to investigate the effect of udca on the improvement of liver enzymes in children with hepatitis a infection. methods: in this randomized clinical trial, 152 patients were randomly allocated to either intervention (udca) or control (no drug) group. liver enzymes were measured six times within six months post-therapy. statistical tests were carried out using spss 19 soft- ware. results: the mean alt level reduced from 1296.7 ± 1236 iu/l to 15.4 ± 3 iu/l in the udca group after six months. alt also reduced from 1062.3 ± 959 iu/l to 16.4 ± 5 iu/l in the control group. the ratio of patients with normal alt levels was significantly higher in the udca group (n = 61, 80.3%) than in the control group (n = 51, 68%) two months post-therapy (p = 0.06). the mean level of ast reduced from 983.8 ± 1036 iu/l to 19.4 ± 5 iu/l in the udca group and from 981.8 ± 1177 iu/l to 22.8 ± 7 iu/l in the control group. the ratio of patients with normal ast levels was significantly higher in the udca group than in the control group one month (n = 34, 44.7% vs. n = 20, 26.7%, respectively; p = 0.02), two months (n = 51, 67.1% vs. n = 31, 41.3%, respectively; p = 0.001), and three months (n = 66, 86.8% vs. n = 56, 74.7%, respectively; p = 0.04) post-therapy. six months post-therapy, all the patients reached normal ast and alt levels in both groups. conclusions: our results indicated that udca accelerated achieving biochemical response in children with acute hepatitis a.