efficacy of rhubarb (rheum ribes l.) syrup in children with acute diarrhea: a randomized, double-blind clinical trial

Background: diarrhea is a leading cause of death in infans and children. this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of rhubarb syrup in improving acute diarrhea in children.methods: this double-blind clinical trial was conducted on 1-6-year-old children with acute viral diarrhea referred to amirkola children's hospital, babol, iran, from october 2021 to october 2022. children were randomly divided into two groups- the intervention group (rhubarb syrup) and the placebo group- and were treated and followed up for 2 weeks. the primary outcome was the number of loose stools, and the secondary outcome was the length of hospital stay and recovery from acute diarrhea. intention-to-treat (itt), log-rank tests, and generalized estimating equation (gee) were used to analyze the data. a significant level of p < 0.05 was set for the present study.results: totally, 96 children were included in the study (two groups of 48 individuals). after the intervention, no statistically significant difference was found in mean diarrhea frequency between the two study groups (p = 0.809; ci = 0.752-1.895), but the mean frequency of diarrhea at discharge was significantly lower in both groups than at the beginning of the hospital stay (p < 001). statistically, no significant difference was observed between the study groups in the duration of recovery from the start of treatment (p = 0.296; ci = 2.71-3.28) and the number of hospitalization days (p = 0.193). three cases of gastrointestinal complications occurred in the rhubarb syrup group and one case of skin complications occurred in the placebo group, which was not statistically significant (p = 0.242; p = 1.0, respectively).conclusion: the results of the study show that rhubarb syrup has no significant effect on the treatment of acute viral diarrhea, despite its minor side effects.