SynthesisMedicine2020
Efficacy of salbutamol in the treatment of infants with bronchiolitis: A meta-analysis of 13 studies.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Safety outcomes of salbutamol: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The clinical respiratory journal · 2023Pooled it
- Effect of salbutamol during one-lung ventilation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomized controlled trial.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2026Trial
- Clinical outcomes of bronchodilator use in bronchiolitis: an evidence-based perspective.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Article
- Management of Infants Treated for Respiratory Viral Infections: A Finnish Retrospective Register-Based Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Bronchiolitis: A Real-Life Report of Increasing Compliance to Treatment Guidelines.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Critical reappraisal of short-acting bronchodilators for pediatric respiratory diseases.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2024Review
- Article
- Expert consensus on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of respiratory syncytial virus infections in children.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2024Review
- Bronchodilator-responsive bronchiolar obstruction in term neonates: a case series.Journal of medical case reports · 2023Article
- Effects of nebulized epinephrine in association with hypertonic saline for infants with acute bronchiolitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Health science reports · 2022Review
- An overview on the RSV-mediated mechanisms in the onset of non-allergic asthma.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Review
- Inhaled Pharmacotherapy for Neonates: A Narrative Review.Turkish archives of pediatrics · 2022Article
- Patient, Provider, and Health Care System Characteristics Associated With Overuse in Bronchiolitis.Pediatrics · 2021Article
- The use of βERJ open research · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy of salbutamol treatment in infants with bronchiolitis.
methodsA systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the use of salbutamol in infants with bronchiolitis was performed. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool was used to evaluate the quality of RCTs. Data were extracted and meta-analyzed using STATA version 12.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX).
resultsThirteen RCTs, including a total of 977 participants, were assessed in the present meta-analysis. Results indicated that salbutamol therapy for bronchiolitis in infants led to an increase in respiratory rate (weighted mean difference [WMD] 2.26 [95% confidence interval {CI} 0.36-4.16]) and higher heart rate (WMD 12.15 [95% CI 9.24-15.07]). However, as a selective β2-agonist, salbutamol did not improve the clinical severity score of infants with bronchiolitis (WMD -0.11 [95% CI -0.26 to 0.03]), length of hospital stay (WMD 0.12 [95% CI -0.32 to 0.56]), or oxygen saturation (WMD 0.20 [95% CI -0.35 to 0.75]).
conclusionBased on the results of this systematic review, the use of salbutamol had no effect on bronchiolitis in children <24 months of age. Moreover, the treatment can also lead to side effects, such as high heart rate. As such, salbutamol should not be recommended for treatment of bronchiolitis in infants.
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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.