ArticleScientific reports2022
COVID-19 symptoms are reduced by targeted hydration of the nose, larynx and trachea.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the generation and dispersal of respiratory particles using upper respiratory commensal bacteria as index organisms for respiratory pathogens.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Determinants of respiratory tract aerosol generation in a diverse clinical population: an observational study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2025Observational
- Kidney Stone Disease: Epigenetic Dysregulation in Homocystinuria and Mitochondrial Sulfur Trans-Sulfuration Ablation Driven by COVID-19 Pathophysiology.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Efficacy of hypertonic nasal spray with algae in rhinosinusitis.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2025Observational
- Inhaled alkaline hypertonic divalent salts reduce refractory chronic cough frequency.ERJ open research · 2024Article
- Review
- Lung aerosol particle emission increases with age at rest and during exercise.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Respiratory aerosol particle emission and simulated infection risk is greater during indoor endurance than resistance exercise.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Mouth breathing, dry air, and low water permeation promote inflammation, and activate neural pathways, by osmotic stresses acting on airway lining mucus.QRB discovery · 2023Article
- Saline nasal irrigation and gargling in COVID-19: a multidisciplinary review of effects on viral load, mucosal dynamics, and patient outcomes.Frontiers in public health · 2023Review
- Aerosol particle emission increases exponentially above moderate exercise intensity resulting in superemission during maximal exercise.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Changes in the Blood Viscosity in Patients With SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
- Hydration for Clean Air TodayMolecular Frontiers journal · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 8 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Dehydration of the upper airways increases risks of respiratory diseases from COVID-19 to asthma and COPD. We find in human volunteer studies involving 464 human subjects in Germany, the US, and India that respiratory droplet generation increases by up to 4 orders of magnitude in dehydration-associated states of advanced age (n = 357), elevated BMI-age (n = 148), strenuous exercise (n = 20) and SARS-CoV-2 infection (n = 87), and falls with hydration of the nose, larynx and trachea by calcium-rich hypertonic salts. We also find in a protocol of exercise-induced airway dehydration that hydration of the airways by calcium-rich salts increases oxygenation relative to a non-treatment control (P < 0.05). In a random control study of COVID-19 positive subjects (n = 40), thrice-a-day delivery of the calcium-rich hypertonic salts (active) suppressed respiratory droplet generation by 51% ± 11% and increased oxygen saturation over three days of treatment by 48.08% ± 9.61% (P < 0.001), while no changes were observed in the nasal-saline control group. Self-reported symptoms significantly declined in the active group and did not decline in the control group. Hydration of the upper airways appears promising as a non-drug approach for reducing risks of respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.
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