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| |  Ondansetron Cuts Hospital Admission Rates for Children Who Present to the ER With Gastrointestinal Complaints: Presented at PAS By Jill Stein BALTIMORE, Md -- May 5, 2009 -- Ondansetron reduces hospital admission rates by nearly 50% for children who present to the paediatric emergency department (PED) with gastrointestinal symptoms, researchers reported here at the 2009 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Annual Meeting. Jesse J. Sturm, MD, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues reviewed ondansetron use in children aged 3 months to 18 years who visited 2 tertiary care PEDs over a 3-year period with an International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 diagnosis of vomiting or gastroenteritis. A total of 34,117 visits were included in the analysis, which was presented on May 4. Ondansetron has become a valuable adjunct for the treatment of acute gastroenteritis in the PED, Dr. Sturm said. However, studies to date differ on whether ondansetron can reduce hospitalisation rates, and no large studies have assessed its effect on return rates to the PED. In the current analysis, ondansetron was used in 56% of patients during their initial PED visit. During these visits, 85.7% of patients received an oral formulation and 14.3% received an intravenous (IV) formulation. A prescription for ondansetron was given to 33% of patients at discharge. The 19,857 patients who received ondansetron in the PED were admitted to the hospital on the initial PED visit less frequently than the 14,260 patients not receiving ondansetron in the PED (3.7% vs 6.4%, P < .01). The study also found that children who received ondansetron in the PED appeared to return to the PED within 3 days and be admitted on their return visits at slightly higher rates than their counterparts. However, the rate of return for those receiving ondansetron was only slightly greater than for those who did not receive ondansetron, Dr. Sturm said. He noted that the study's retrospective design may have a potential limitation. The investigators were also not able to determine whether patients filled their prescriptions for ondansetron. Dr. Sturm called for additional studies to validate ondansetron's effect on hospitalisation and return rates.
[Presentation title: Ondansetron Use in a Pediatric Emergency Department: Effect on Admission and Return Rates. Abstract 4331.121]
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