A randomized trial of magnesium in the emergency department treatment of children with asthma.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Magnesium Sulfate in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Who Took Part

The study group was 54 children.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young children, children and teenagers, both men and women.

This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 54 children 1 to 18 years of age who presented to the ED of a tertiary care children's hospital with a moderate to severe asthma exacerbation.

Thereafter, all patients were treated with frequent nebulized albuterol following a structured protocol.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

The children were allocated by chance, so the Magnesium Sulfate group and the comparison group should start out alike.

As a double-blind Magnesium Sulfate study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Some children received a placebo instead of Magnesium Sulfate, giving a reference point.

Secondary outcomes included hospitalization rates and time required to meet discharge criteria.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Asthma, Confidence Intervals, Emergency Service, Hospital, Emergency Treatment, Magnesium Sulfate, Probability and Respiratory Function Tests.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Magnesium Sulfate in 54 children.

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2000 (Annals of emergency medicine), a journal based in United States.

More context: all human trials.