Anticholinergics for Drooling — Balancing the Good with the Bad

Drooling in children with neurodisability may be treated in a variety of ways, including with anticholinergic medications. However, there is a lack of evidence about which anticholinergic medication might provide the best balance between effectiveness and adverse side effects.

Researchers randomized 90 children with neurodisability (median age, 5 years; range, 3–14) who had never received medication for their problematic drooling to receive glycopyrronium liquid or a hyoscine patch. For 4 weeks, the dose of each medication was increased to find optimal control with minimal adverse effects for each patient, then held steady until 12 weeks.

Both groups experienced clinically and statistically significant reductions in drooling at 4 weeks (the p…