Evidence Summaries

A Cochrane review ¹ included 1 study with a total of 91 subjects. The trial including patients from African French speaking countries assessed the use of an adsorbent (attapulgite) compared to a placebo for chronic diarrhoea in people with HIV/AIDS experiencing diarrhoea for at least 7 days. There was no evidence that attapulgite is superior to placebo in controlling diarrhoea by reducing stool frequency and normalising stool consistency on days 1 (RR 0.34 95% CI 0.01 to 8.15), 3 (RR 1.35 95% CI 0.51 to 3.62) and 5 (RR 1.74 95% CI 0.89 to 3.38). Five deaths were reported which was not classified according to the arms of the study. Studies assessing the use of antimotility agents were not found.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (several issues) and by imprecise results (few patients and wide confidence intervals).

References