Hypertonic saline (3%) vs normal saline (0.9%) nebuliztion for acute viral bronchiolitis: A randomized control trial

Objective: to determine mean reduction in respiratory score in patients of acute bronchiolitis with hypertonic saline (3%) and normal saline (0.9%). study design: randomized controlled trial. setting & duration: emergency and in department of pediatric medicine,the children's hospital and institute of child health,lahore,pakistan,from october 2013 till march 2014. intervention: nebulization of patients with 3% hypertonic saline (3cc) or normal saline (3cc) at 6 hourly intervals and recording the mean reduction in respiratory score after 24 hours. results: baseline characteristics were similar in both groups. comparison of respiratory score in both groups was done which shows that before treatment it was 6.13±0.82 in group-a and 5.68±0.73 in group-b,p value was calculated as 0.011. after treatment it was calculated as 2.9±0.84 in group-a and 3.63±0.84 in group-b,p value was calculated as 0.002. reduction of respiratory score was calculated as 3.23±1.17 in group-a and 2.05±0.50 in group-b,p value was calculated as 0.000,which shows a significant difference in both groups. conclusion: mean reduction in respiratory score was significantly higher in patients of acute bronchiolitis treated with hypertonic saline(3%) as compare to normal saline (0.9%). © 2015,pakistan pediatric journal. all rights reserved.