A Randomized Controlled Study of Efficacy and Safety Profile of Levosulpiride and Itopride in Functional Dyspepsia

Dyspepsia is a clinical problem of considerable magnitude for the healthcare system due to the high prevalence and chronic and recurrent nature of symptoms. Earlier dyspepsia was referred to as a heterogeneous group of symptoms in the upper abdomen and retrosternal which are related to ingestion of meals and include heartburn, regurgitation, epigastric pain, epigastric burning, postprandial fullness/distension, early satiety, bloating, belching, anorexia, nausea, and vomiting. This has prompted the search for newer agents with equal efficacy but lower side effect potential such as levosulpiride and itopride. To evaluate and compare the efficacy of the newer drugs like levosulpiride and itopride in functional dyspepsia. The most common presenting symptoms in the present study were epigastric fullness (81%), upper abdominal pain (55%), early satiety (52%), and epigastric burning (45%). Less common symptoms were bloating (27%), belching (11%), heartburn (10%), and nausea (8%). Drugs, itopride and levosulpiride, were equally effective in ameliorating different symptoms of functional dyspepsia at the end of 4 weeks of treatment. There was a significant reduction in mean global symptom score (GSS) and mean duration score and mean score of severity in follow-up visits at the 2nd and 4th week from the day of presentation (p value < 0.05). Saxena GN, Mathur S. A Randomized Controlled Study of Efficacy and Safety Profile of Levosulpiride and Itopride in Functional Dyspepsia. J Mahatma Gandhi Univ Med Sci Tech 2020;5(2):50–56.