Comparison of clinical efficacy of nebulised salbutamol and salbutamol metered dose inhaler in children with mild or moderate exacerbation of bronchial asthma

Background: Bronchial asthma is the commonest chronic disease in industrialized nations. Aerosol therapy has revolutionized the treatment of bronchial asthma in children as in adults. Even though nebulisation is a simple technique, it is expensive and there is a need for power source. The aim of the study was to compare the clinical efficacy of nebulised salbutamol and salbutamol metered dose inhaler (MDI) in children with mild or moderate exacerbation of Bronchial asthma.Methods: This study was a hospital based randomized control study carried out between March 2009 to December 2009 on children attending OP or casualty of Government Medical College, Alappuzha with mild or moderate exacerbation of bronchial asthma.Results: 60 subjects were selected for the study out of which 30 were assigned to salbutamol MDI group and the other 30 to salbutamol nebulisation group. After the administration of drug, all the studied variables showed significant improvement in both groups (p value <0.001). Percentage predicted PEFR increased by about 27% in nebulisation group and 26% in MDI group; however this difference was not statistically significant (P value = 0.99).Conclusions: In this study we concluded that the efficacy of salbutamol in mild or moderate acute exacerbation of asthma was similar when the drug is delivered either by nebuliser or MDI with spacer.