The Impact of Silymarin on the Symptom Severity in Pediatric Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a multifactorial disease, posing significant challenges to public health. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of silymarin on the symptom severity in pediatric patients with IBD.

Methods & Materials: 

This randomized clinical trial was conducted on children aged 5-18 diagnosed with IBD referred to the GI clinic at Akbar Children's Hospital in Mashhad. Those who met the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated into either the intervention or placebo group, each group consisting of 20 participants. In the intervention group, silymarin was administered three times daily in divided doses for three months. The control group received a placebo. To assess the efficacy of silymarin, PUCAI and PCDAI were evaluated for all patients at three different time points: before the intervention, during the first visit, and after the intervention. Data were analyzed utilizing the SPSS version 25, with a significance level set at p < 0.05.

The comparison of the disease activity index scores in patients with IBD between the silymarin and placebo groups revealed that during the initial evaluation, no significant difference was observed in the disease activity index score between the two groups before the intervention (p>0.05). However, a statistically significant difference was observed in the disease activity index score between the two groups during the second, and third evaluations (p<0.05).