Advertising Disclaimer
PEDIATRICS Vol. 96 No. 2 August 1995, pp. 398
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Chipps, B. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Chipps, B. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

A PROSPECTIVE RANDOMIZED STUDY OF CONTINUOUS VERSUS INTERMITTENT NEBULIZED ALBUTEROL FOR SEVERE STATUS ASTHMATICUS IN CHILDREN

Bradley E. Chipps MD1

1 Sacramento, CA

Purpose of the Study. Comparison of continuously nebulized albuterol (0.3 mg/kg/hour) to intermittent hourly albuterol (0.3 mg/kg/dose) in the treatment of status asthmaticus.

Population. Seventeen patients (average, 5 years; range, 1.8 to 16 years) admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with severe status asthmaticus (asthma scored >5, range 0 to 10) who were nonresponsive to outpatient management with beta-agonist, oxygen, corticosteroid, and theophylline.

Methods. Randomized, nonblinded trial using small volume nebulizer for both modalities of treatment. The minimum albuterol dose was 5 mg/hour and maximum dose was 10 mg/hour.

Results. The two groups did not differ in demographics, vital signs, or blood gas results. Improvement in clinical score was significant (8 to 6) in the continuous group as compared with the intermittent nebulized group (7 to 6.8) during the first 4 hours of therapy. The mean time to reach an asthma score of <5 was 12 hours (range, 4 to 24 hours) for continuous group compared with 18 hours (range, 12 to 24 hours) for the intermittent group. One patient in the intermittent group failed to respond after 12 hours and was removed from the protocol. Another patient in the intermittent group was readmitted to the PICU 60 hours after discharge for a severe episode of status asthmaticus. No significant changes in electrocardiogram, vital signs, on lab data occurred except for hypokalemia in one patient in the continuous group who was not given supplemental potassium. The respiratory therapist's time commitment for the continuous group was approximately 50% less than for intermittent therapy group.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?