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Q In young children with acute lower airway obstruction, is response to bronchodilator treatment given using a metered dose inhaler (MDI) with a bottle spacer equivalent to that given using a conventional spacer?
METHODS
Design:
randomised controlled equivalence trial.
Allocation:
concealed.
Blinding:
blinded ({healthcare providers, data collectors},* and clinical outcome assessors).
Follow up period:
after completion of 3 bronchodilator treatments.
Setting:
a children’s hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
Patients:
400 children aged 2 months to 5 years (median age 12 mo, 39% boys) who presented with clinical signs of acute lower airway obstruction (expiratory wheeze on auscultation or hyperinflation of the chest) and had cough or difficulty breathing within the previous 5 days. Exclusion criteria were bronchodilator use in the previous 4 hours, underlying cardiac or chronic pulmonary disease (other than asthma), stridor, or …
Footnotes
↵* Information provided by author.
For correspondence: Professor H Zar, Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. hzar{at}ich.uct.ac.za
Sources of funding: World Health Organization and Allergy Society of South Africa.
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