Insufficient evidence to recommend routine adjunctive chest physiotherapy for adults with pneumonia
- Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
- Correspondence to Sharon Fleming
Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, Sydney Street, Chelsea, London SW3 6NP, UK; s.fleming{at}rbht.nhs.uk
Chest physiotherapy for adults with pneumonia: effective or not?
This Cochrane systematic review evaluates the research evidence for the effectiveness of chest physiotherapy with adult patients diagnosed with hospital-acquired, community-acquired or ventilator-acquired pneumonia. The review will interest healthcare professionals delivering care to this patient population. Pneumonia is an important clinical problem, with an annual incidence of community-acquired pneumonia of up to 12 per 1000 adults in the USA,1 and is a leading cause of death among infectious diseases.2 Although antibiotic therapy is the mainstay of treatment for pneumonia, chest physiotherapy is used in addition as it is believed to improve patients' …
