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Treatment of asthma exacerbations with the human-powered nebuliser: a randomised parallel-group clinical trial.

ABSTRACT: Nebulisers aid the treatment of respiratory diseases, including asthma, but they require electricity and are often cost-prohibitive for low- and middle-income countries.The aim of this study was to compare a low-cost, human-powered nebuliser compressor with an electric nebuliser compressor for the treatment of mild to moderate asthma exacerbations in adults and children.This was a non-blinded, parallel-group, equivalence study, with 110 subjects between 6 and 65 years of age, conducted in the emergency department of a district hospital in Ilopango, El Salvador. Participants were assigned by random allocation to receive a 2.5-mg dose of salbutamol from the experimental human-powered nebuliser or the electric nebuliser control. All assigned participants completed treatment and were included in analysis. The study was not blinded as this was clinically unfeasible; however, data analysis was blinded.The mean improvement in peak flow of the experimental and control groups was 37.5 (95% confidence interval (CI) 26.7-48.2) l/min and 38.7 (95% CI, 26.1-51.3) l/min, respectively, with a mean difference of 1.3 (95% CI, -15.1 to 17.7) l/min. The mean improvement in percent-expected peak flow for the experimental and control groups was 12.3% (95% CI, 9.1-15.5%) and 13.8% (95% CI, 9.8-17.9%), respectively, with a mean difference of 1.5% (95% CI, -3.6 to 6.6%).The human-powered nebuliser compressor is equivalent to a standard nebuliser compressor for the treatment of mild-to-moderate asthma. (Funded by the Opus Dean's Fund, Marquette University College of Engineering; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01795742.).

SUBMITTER: Hallberg CJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4373316 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Treatment of asthma exacerbations with the human-powered nebuliser: a randomised parallel-group clinical trial.

Hallberg Christopher J CJ Lysaught M Therese MT Najarro René Antonio RA Cea Gil Fausto F Villatoro Clara C Diaz de Uriarte Ana Celia AC Olson Lars E LE

NPJ primary care respiratory medicine 20140626

<h4>Background</h4>Nebulisers aid the treatment of respiratory diseases, including asthma, but they require electricity and are often cost-prohibitive for low- and middle-income countries.<h4>Aims</h4>The aim of this study was to compare a low-cost, human-powered nebuliser compressor with an electric nebuliser compressor for the treatment of mild to moderate asthma exacerbations in adults and children.<h4>Methods</h4>This was a non-blinded, parallel-group, equivalence study, with 110 subjects be ...[more]

PMID: 24965834

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Dataset Information

Treatment of asthma exacerbations with the human-powered nebuliser: a randomised parallel-group clinical trial.

Publications

Treatment of asthma exacerbations with the human-powered nebuliser: a randomised parallel-group clinical trial.

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