In Infants Hospitalized With Acute Bronchiolitis, Chest Physiotherapy Ineffective

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Article Date: 29 Sep 2010 - 4:00 PDT


In research published this week in PLoS Medicine, Vincent Gajdos and colleagues report the results of a randomized trial conducted among hospitalized infants with bronchiolitis. The researchers enrolled nearly 500 children aged 15 days to 2 years who were admitted to seven French hospitals for a first episode of acute bronchiolitis. Their results show that a physiotherapy technique (increased exhalation and assisted cough) commonly used in France does not reduce time to recovery in this population. The researchers conclude "Our results did not support the recommendation that chest physiotherapy be routinely performed in hospitalized infants with acute bronchiolitis."

Funding:
This work was supported by a grant from French Health Ministry (PHRC AOM 03/123) and by a grant from the Association des Reseaux Bronchiolites (ARB). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests:
All authors declare that (1) no financial support for the submitted work from anyone other than their employer; (2) no financial relationships with commercial entities that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; (3) no spouses, partners, or children with financial relationships that may be relevant to the submitted work; and (4) no non-financial interests that may be relevant to the submitted work.

Citation:
Gajdos V, Katsahian S, Beydon N, Abadie V, de Pontual L, et al. (2010) Effectiveness of Chest Physiotherapy in Infants Hospitalized with Acute Bronchiolitis: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial. PLoS Med 7(9): e1000345. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000345

Click here to access the freely available paper.

Source:
Katie Hickling
Public Library of Science

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