RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Chest physiotherapy in paediatric patients hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia: a randomised clinical trial
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 967
OP 971
DO 10.1136/archdischild-2012-302279
VO 97
IS 11
A1 Janice Luisa Lukrafka
A1 Sandra C Fuchs
A1 Gilberto Bueno Fischer
A1 José A Flores
A1 Jandira M Fachel
A1 Jose A Castro-Rodriguez
YR 2012
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/97/11/967.abstract
AB Background Chest physiotherapy has been used to treat children hospitalised with pneumonia with no clear scientific evidence to support a beneficial effect. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of chest physiotherapy as an adjuvant treatment in children hospitalised with acute community-acquired pneumonia. Methods Children (aged 1–12 years) with a clinical and confirmed radiological diagnosis of pneumonia sequentially admitted to a tertiary children hospital were eligible for this study. Participants were randomly selected to receive a standardised respiratory physiotherapy (positioning, thoracic vibration, thoracic compression, positive expiratory pressure, breathing exercises and forced exhalation with the glottis open or ‘huffing’) three times daily in the ‘intervention group’ or a non-mandatory request to breathe deeply, expectorate the sputum and maintain a lateral body position once a day in the ‘control group’. The primary outcomes were reduction in respiratory rate and severity score (respiratory rate, recession, fever, oxygen saturation and chest x-ray) from baseline to discharge. Secondary outcome was duration of hospitalisation. Results In all, 72 patients were randomly allocated to the intervention (n=35) or control (n=37) groups. There were no differences at admission on severity of pneumonia between groups. Respiratory rate and severity score significant decreased between admission to discharge within each group; however, there were no differences when comparing groups. Also, there was no significant difference in duration of hospitalisation between the control and intervention groups (6 vs 8 days, p=0.11, respectively). Conclusions This clinical trial suggests that, in children hospitalised with moderate community-acquired pneumonia, chest physiotherapy did not have clinical benefits in comparison to control group.