Antimicrobial drug suspensions: a blind comparison of taste of fourteen common pediatric drugs.

Children of preschool age most often receive medications in liquid form, and smell and taste are major determinants in achieving compliance. We compared smell, taste and other characteristics of 14 commonly prescribed antimicrobial suspensions in a blind test in 30 adult volunteers to determine whether there was a difference in their acceptability. A significant difference was observed with cephalosporins ranking highest and penicillins ranking lowest. Our findings support anecdotal observations and claims often made by parents that cephalosporin antimicrobial suspensions taste good and are readily accepted by children and that penicillin suspensions have an unpleasant taste and aftertaste and are poorly accepted. Other drugs had intermediate scores. Of the two erythromycin suspensions evaluated, Ilosone tested superior to Erythromycin ES.