Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2010
Parent initiated prednisolone for acute asthma in children of school age: randomised controlled crossover trial.
Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patient- and parent-initiated oral steroids for asthma exacerbations.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Asthma and other recurrent wheezing disorders in children (acute).BMJ clinical evidence · 2012Pooled it
- Canadian Thoracic Society 2012 guideline update: diagnosis and management of asthma in preschoolers, children and adults.Canadian respiratory journalGuideline
- Physician and parent barriers to the use of oral corticosteroids for the prevention of paediatric URTI-induced acute asthma exacerbations at home.Paediatrics & child health · 2017Article
- Asthma exacerbation in children: a practical review.Pediatrics and neonatology · 2014Review
- Outpatient management of asthma in children.Clinical medicine insights. Pediatrics · 2013Article
- Treating asthma flareups at home - an opinion.Paediatrics & child healthArticle
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of a short course of parent initiated oral prednisolone for acute asthma in children of school age.
designDouble blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial in which episodes of asthma, rather than participants, were randomised to treatment.
settingThe Barwon region of Victoria, Australia.
participantsChildren aged 5-12 years with a history of recurrent episodes of acute asthma.
interventionA short course of parent initiated treatment with prednisolone (1 mg/kg a day) or placebo.
main outcome measuresThe primary outcome measure was the mean daytime symptom score over seven days. Secondary outcome measures were mean night time symptom score over seven days, use of health resources, and school absenteeism.
results230 children were enrolled in the study. Over a three year period, 131 (57%) of the participants contributed a total of 308 episodes of asthma that required parent initiated treatment: 155 episodes were treated with parent initiated prednisolone and 153 with placebo. The mean daytime symptom score was 15% lower in episodes treated with prednisolone than in those treated with placebo (geometric mean ratio 0.85, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.98; P=0.023). Treatment with prednisolone was also associated with a 16% reduction in the night time symptom score (geometric mean ratio 0.84, 95% CI 0.70 to 1.00; P=0.050), a reduced risk of health resource use (odds ratio 0.54, 95% CI 0.34 to 0.86; P=0.010), and reduced school absenteeism (mean difference -0.4 days, 95% CI -0.8 to 0.0 days; P=0.045).
conclusionA short course of oral prednisolone initiated by parents when their child experiences an episode of acute asthma may reduce asthma symptoms, health resource use, and school absenteeism. However, the modest benefits of this strategy must be balanced against potential side effects of repeated short courses of an oral corticosteroid.
trial registrationISRCTN 26232583.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.