TREATMENT OF BRONCHIOLITIS; ROLE OF INHALED β-AGONISTS IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN

Abstract

Objective: To compare the efficacy of normal saline and inhaled beta-agonist in the treatment of bronchiolitis Study design: Randomized clinical trial Settings: The study was conducted in Paediatric Medicine Department, DHQ hospital/Punjab Medical College Faisalabad. Period: 06 months from 1[st] October 2013 to 31[st] march 2014 Results: In this study, 58.33%[n=21] in Group-A and 66.67%[n=24] in Group-B were between 0-9 months of age, mean and sd was calculated as 11.43 + 3.87 months in Group-A and 10.52 +/- 3.32 months in Group-B, 52.78%[n=19] in Group-A and 61.11%[n=22] in Group-B were male while 47.22%[n=17] in Group-A and 38.89%[n=14] were females, mean clinical score in both groups was recorded as 4.11+1.32 in Group-A and 5.65 + 1.89 in Group-B, comparison of efficacy in both groups was recorded which shows 58.33%[n=21] in Group-A and 25%[n=9] in Group-B were treated effectively while rest of 41.67%[n=15] in Group-A and 75%[n=27] in Group-B were not treated effectively, p value was calculated as 0.008, which is statistically significant Conclusions: The results of this study reveal that inhaled beta-agonists are more effective than normal saline