[Survey on the Efficacy of Two Types of Medication Administration-assisting Food for Hospitalized Children]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of two types of medication administration-assisting food. The subjects were 30 caregivers of children from one to eight years old hospitalized in the pediatrics unit of a university hospital, and 30 nurses caring for them. The caregivers gave medications to their children using two types of administration-assisting food, "chocolate" and "jelly". A questionnaire was prepared to investigate the efficacy of the administration-assisting food, and the caregivers and nurses responded to the questionnaire after the medication was given. The questionnaire data included many positive responses regarding the administration-assisting food, demonstrating its efficacy. The caregivers of children aged ≥4 years responded that the "chocolate" type was more effective than the "jelly" type in administering medications. There also tended to be a positive opinion of the "chocolate" among the nurses of children aged ≥4 years. However, the opinion of the "chocolate" and "jelly" were equivalent among the nurses of children aged <4 years. The reasons for these results were thought to be that the children were at an age when their sense of taste was developing and changing, plus correlations with past experience of the food and differences in the properties of the administration-assisting food. Easiness of swallowing of administration-assisting foods may be important for children whose taste is underdeveloped. However, the taste of administration-assisting foods may be important for children with taste development. Selecting administration-assisting foods based on these factors may be useful for the smooth administration of medication.

Evaluation of palatability of 10 commercial amlodipine orally disintegrating tablets by gustatory sensation testing, OD-mate as a new disintegration apparatus and the artificial taste sensor

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the palatability of 10 formulations (the original manufacturer's formulation and nine generics) of amlodipine orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) by means of human gustatory sensation testing, disintegration/dissolution testing and the evaluation of bitterness intensity using a taste sensor.

Methods

Initially, the palatability, dissolution and bitterness intensity of the ODTs were evaluated in gustatory sensation tests. Second, the disintegration times of the ODTs were measured using the OD-mate, a newly developed apparatus for measuring the disintegration of ODTs, and lastly, the bitterness intensities were evaluated using an artificial taste sensor.

Key findings

Using factor analysis, the factors most affecting the palatability of amlodipine ODTs were found to be disintegration and taste. There was high correlation between the disintegration times of the 10 amlodipine ODTs estimated in human gustatory testing and those found using the OD-mate. The bitterness intensities of amlodipine ODTs 10, 20 and 30 s after starting the conventional brief dissolution test and the values determined by the taste sensor were highly correlated with the bitterness intensities determined in gustatory sensation testing.

Conclusions

The OD-mate and the taste sensor may be useful for predicting the disintegration and bitterness intensity of amlodipine ODTs in the mouth.