Background:

Ondansetron is an antiemetic widely used in clinical practice for the control of vomiting associated with gastritis and/or acute gastroenteritis in children. However, the available evidence about its use is controversial, its directions for use are not clearly defined and there is no unanimity on its use in clinical practice guidelines.

Methodology:

We performed a retrospective cohort study which included a total of 825 children between 0 and 14 years, who presented symptoms of vomiting associated with gastritis and/or acute gastroenteritis and attended the Pediatric Emergency Department of a tertiary hospital in 2019. The association between the use of ondansetron and the need for intravenous rehydration, hospitalisation, length of stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department and return visits to the emergency department within 72 hours was analysed.

Results:

Of the sample studied, 38.7% of the patients received ondansetron. The administration of ondansetron reduced the risk of hospital admission (OR 0.19; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.84) and decreased the length of stay in the emergency department (p = 0.000). No significant differences were found in reducing the need for intravenous rehydration (OR 0.65; 95% CI 0.40 to 1.05) or in return visits to emergency department within 3 days (OR 1.38; 95% CI 0.82-2.31).

Conclusions:

Our results suggest that the use of ondansetron could be beneficial in children older than 6 months with vomiting associated with gastritis and/or acute gastroenteritis and with mild-to-moderate dehydration.

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