Trial reportThe Medical journal of Australia
Visiting a sauna: does inhaling hot dry air reduce common cold symptoms? A randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in The Medical journal of Australia. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00552981 (Effectiveness of Local Application of Warm Air in Patients With Common Cold), which is not on this map. Cited by 3 papers.
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.
Effectiveness of Local Application of Warm Air in Patients With Common Cold (HELI Study)
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2018Review
- A cross-sectional analysis of symptom severity in adults with influenza and other acute respiratory illness in the outpatient setting.BMC infectious diseases · 2014Article
- Scientific evidence-based effects of hydrotherapy on various systems of the body.North American journal of medical sciences · 2014Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo compare the efficacy of applying hot dry air versus dry air at room temperature to the throat of patients with a newly acquired common cold using a symptom severity score. DESIGN, SETTING AND
participantsA randomised single-blind controlled trial with a treatment duration of 3 days and a follow-up period of 4 days was conducted at a sauna in Berlin, Germany. Between November 2007 and March 2008 and between September 2008 and April 2009, 157 patients with symptoms of the common cold were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n=80) and a control group (n=77).
interventionsParticipants in the intervention group inhaled hot dry air within a hot sauna, dressed in a winter coat, whereas participants in the control group inhaled dry air at room temperature within a hot sauna, also dressed in a winter coat.
main outcome measuresArea under the curve (AUC) summarising symptom severity over time (Days 2, 3, 5 and 7), symptom severity scores for individual days, intake of medication for the common cold and general ill feeling.
resultsNo significant difference between groups was observed for AUC representing symptom severity over time (intervention group mean, 31.2 [SEM, 1.8]; control group mean, 35.1 [SEM, 2.3]; group difference, -3.9 [95% CI, -9.7 to 1.9]; P=0.19). However, significant differences between groups were found for medication use on Day 1 (P=0.01), symptom severity score on Day 2 (P=0.04), and participants' ratings of the effectiveness of the therapy on Day 7 (P=0.03).
conclusionInhaling hot air while in a sauna has no significant impact on overall symptom severity of the common cold.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00552981.
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.