The efficacy of nebulized salbutamol, magnesium sulfate, and salbutamol/magnesium sulfate combination in moderate bronchiolitis.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Magnesium Sulfate.

The aim of this paper is to compare the effect of nebulized magnesium sulfate to nebulized salbutamol and salbutamol/magnesium sulfate on successful discharge from the emergency department.

Why It Was Studied

Infants were grouped according to the nebulized treatment they received: group 1-salbutamol/normal saline, group 2-magnesium sulfate and normal saline, and group 3-salbutamol plus magnesium sulfate.

Heart beat, bronchiolitis, clinical severity scores (CSS), and oxygen saturation of the patients were determined before and after nebulization (0, 1, 4 h).

Who Took Part

The study group was 56 infants.

PubMed indexes the participants as infants and young children, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and double-blind study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Magnesium Sulfate and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the infants and researchers unaware of who received Magnesium Sulfate.

A total of 56 infants were included in this double-blinded, prospective study.

What Was Measured

Heart beat, bronchiolitis, clinical severity scores (CSS), and oxygen saturation of the patients were determined before and after nebulization (0, 1, 4 h).

CSS scores were lower in the salbutamol/magnesium sulfate group when compared with the magnesium sulfate and salbutamol groups (3.4 (2.4-4.3), 4.7 (3.8-5.7), 4.0 (3.2-4.3)).

PubMed files the paper under topics including Albuterol, Bronchiolitis, Bronchodilator Agents, Heart Rate, Hospitals, University, Intensive Care Units, Pediatric and Magnesium Sulfate.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Magnesium Sulfate in 56 infants.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 1 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2014 (European journal of pediatrics), a journal based in Germany.

More context: all human trials.