Conditions: Cough Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
Keywords: cough common cold antitussive agents mucosal protection medical device
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 150
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine if there is comparable efficacy between carbocisteine and a protective cough syrup from natural ingredients in children's cough due to upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) such as the common cold. The hypothesis is that protecting the throat is very useful in decreasing cough severity, both day and night, without needing to subdue such an important reflex as cough, and without only acting on mucous fluidification, especially in children where sedation and excessive fluidification is dangerous. The research hypothesis is that the protective (Grintuss) Syrup relieves cough (frequency, intensity, degree of disturbance due to nocturnal cough, and improves the quality of sleep of the child) as much as or more than the carbocysteine syrup usually used to treat children (Syr Mucolit).

Detailed description:
Cough is a life saving reflex, therefore it is important, especially in pediatrics, to calm cough spells without sedating the reflex. Mucolytic agents have been shown to be helpful but side effects have been reported and use has been prohibited under 2 years of age. Therefore, a completely safe and effective cough remedy has not been officially reported yet in a randomised trial. Looking into other mechanisms for cough management such as protection of irritated pharynx mucosa from post nasal drip or other irritating substances is theoretically sound and shows practical interesting results.

A parallel comparison of efficacy and tolerability between such protective mechanism (acting through a barrier and radical scavenging action) due to natural substances (honey, plantago lanceolata, grindelia robusta and helichrysum italicum) and a mucolytic substance has not been done so far, in young children, especially in a time frame of 4 days. The intent of this study is to use the protective syrup versus carbocysteine in children with moderate to severe night and daily cough, measured with a validated parent questionnaire. The invasiveness of cough is followed immediately after one night administration of the study products and daily for four days.

A similar effectiveness of the protective cough syrup as compared to carbocisteine is considered very interesting due to the mechanism of the remedy.

Arms:
arm 1: syrup containing honey, plantago lanceolata, grindelia robusta, helichrysum italicum ina syrup form. The cough syrup is a CE marked medical device acting in a non pharmacological way to reduce cough.

Dosage: 20 ml divided in three doses per day for the duration of the study (4 nights, 3 days) arm 2: Dosage 20-25 mg/kg/day three times a day (3 days/4 nights)

Interventions: intervention 1: protective cough syrup intervention 2: carbocisteine cough syrup
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: The mucoadhesive and radical scavenging properties of the components create a protective film on the pharynx which protects irritated mucosa from cough generating stimuli such as post nasal drip, irritating elements, dehydration. intervention 2: Mucolytic

Protocol document: