The clinical use of hypertonic saline/salbutamol in treatment of bronchiolitis

Aim To compare the efficacy of nebulised 3% saline solution (with salbutamol) or 0.9% saline solution (with salbutamol) in the treatment of mild to moderate bronchiolitis. Methods It was a randomised, double-blind trial. Seventy-eight children (up to 18 month of life) with mild to moderate bronchiolitis hospitalised in Pediatric Unit Hospital of Zdroje were enrolled. The infants received inhalation of salbutamol (0.15 mg/kg, max. 1.5 mg = 1.5 ml) dissolved in 3 ml 3% saline – treatment group (n = 41), or 3 ml 0.9% saline – control group (n = 37). The therapy was repeated six times daily until discharge. The duration of hospital stay and rapidity of clinical improvement were assessed. Results Taking the significance level specified at 0.05 into account, there were no statistically significant differences in the length of hospital stay, with 3.06 ± 1.613 days in the treatment group and 3.11 ± 1.634 days in the control group (p = 0.43). Neither were observed statistically significant differences in clinical severity scores after 24, 48 and 72 h (p24 = 0.192, p48 = 0.425, p72 = 0.220). The positive rate for RSV was 53%. No significant adverse events, such as bronchospasm, were observed. Conclusions Nebulised 3% saline (with salbutamol) is not superior to 0.9% (with salbutamol) in the treatment of mild to moderate bronchiolitis.