Hypertonic saline inhalations in bronchiolitis—A cumulative meta‐analysis

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We undertook a cumulative meta‐analysis for the efficacy of hypertonic saline (HS) compared to normal saline (NS) inhalations or no inhalations as controls in bronchiolitis. We performed literature searches from PubMed, Scopus, and by hand search until 20 June 2017. We accepted published randomized controlled trials of HS inhalations in children with bronchiolitis aged I2] 72.9%). The cumulative MD reduced in more recently published papers. In studies with the upper age limit of 12 months, the cumulative MD was −0.408 days (95%CI −0.733 to −0.083) without any important heterogeneity (I2 = 0%). If only studies with a very low risk of bias were included, the cumulative MD was 0.034 (95%CI −0.361 to 0.293) without any important heterogeneity (I2 = 0%). We identified eight studies including 1834 children in the outpatient setting, and the cumulative risk ratio for hospitalization was 0.771 (95%CI 0.619‐0.959, I2 55.8%). In conclusion, HS inhalations offered only limited clinical benefits, though the differences between HS and control groups were statistically significant. The heterogeneity between the studies was substantial. Further studies are warranted with consistent definitions of bronchiolitis and comparable research frames.
Funding Information
  • Research Foundation of the Pulmonary Diseases (Finland)

This publication has 38 references indexed in Scilit: