Length of hospital stay and efficacy of nebeulized hypertonic saline 3% in infants with viral Bronchiolitis

ABSTRACT

To study the efficacy of nebeulized 3% hypertonic saline [HS] for treating viral bronchiolitis in moderately ill infants and its effect on their length of hospital stay. 50 patients with bronchiolitis divided into 2 groups Group I 25 infants mean age 7.2 +/- 2.5 months as control received 3ml normal saline [NS] 0.9 + [0.5 ml] 5 mg terbutaline. Group II 25 infants mean age 6.9 +/- 3.2 months received 3ml HS 3% + [0.5 ml] 5mg terbutaline. Both groups received 3 times nebeulization everyday until discharge. There was significant reduction in clinical severity score in group II in comparison to group I during days of treatment from 6.5 +/- 1.2 to 3.8 +/- 1.1 [P<0.05] and significant reduction in hospital stay in group II [3.1 +/- 1.5 days] in comparison to group I [4.2 +/- 1.8 days] [P<0.05] by 24.4%. The use of nebeulized hypertonic saline 3% is effective in treatment of moderate bronchiolitis and reduces the length of stay in hospital