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Management of drooling in children: a survey of UK paediatricians' clinical practice
Author(s) -
Parr J. R.,
Buswell C. A.,
Banerjee K.,
Fairhurst C.,
Williams J.,
O'Hare A.,
Pennington L.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2011.01213.x
Subject(s) - drooling , medicine , psychological intervention , adverse effect , pediatrics , physical therapy , psychiatry , surgery
Background Drooling is common in children with disordered oral‐motor control. There is little evidence about the comparative effectiveness of different interventions used to reduce the impact of drooling. Anecdotal reports suggest clinicians' management of drooling varies widely. The aims of this survey were to establish which drooling interventions are currently used, how their effectiveness is monitored and how frequently adverse effects are reported. Methods 151 UK paediatricians completed a questionnaire about their management of drooling. Results Paediatricians saw one new child with problematic drooling and three follow‐up children per month. The most common prescribing pattern was hyoscine first line (84.7%) followed by glycopyrronium bromide second line. The reported rate of adverse effects of medications was lower than expected (median 10% for hyoscine). Very few paediatricians used standardized methods of measuring the medication's effectiveness or adverse effects. Conclusion Paediatricians regularly see small numbers of children with problematic drooling. Their clinical management of drooling varies; this is most likely because of a lack of evidence about the most effective approach. Comparative trials of interventions and the development of evidence‐based clinical guidelines would improve the management of children's drooling.