Trial reportClinical physiology and functional imaging2026
The effect of inhaled dry salt on pulmonary mucociliary clearance in obstructive lung disease: A randomised, placebo-controlled, crossover study.
Trial report in Clinical physiology and functional imaging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The effect of inhaled dry salt on pulmonary mucociliary clearance in obstructive lung disease: A randomised, placebo-controlled, crossover study.Clinical physiology and functional imaging · 2026Trial
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInhaled saline may improve mucus transport in respiratory diseases, for example, cystic fibrosis. This randomised, placebo-controlled, crossover study examined the effect of inhaled dry NaCl on mucociliary clearance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
methodsTwenty-five patients with GOLD stage I-III COPD (72% with excess mucus) were tested on two separate days after inhalation from a dry powder inhaler containing either 40 mg dry NaCl or placebo (empty). Pulmonary mucociliary clearance was assessed using inhalation of a radioactive
resultsThe study was terminated early due to COVID-19 after enrolling 25 of 35 planned patients. No significant differences were observed in mucociliary clearance between NaCl and placebo after 1 h (11.3% ± 9.0% vs. 11.4% ± 7.0%, p = 0.97) or 2 h (15.3% ± 9.8% vs.16.1% ± 8.7%, p = 0.55). Normalised clearance based on initial radioaerosol deposition also showed no difference.
conclusionsInhalation of 40 mg dry NaCl was well tolerated without acute adverse effects in COPD patients. However, early termination left the study underpowered, increasing the risk of type II error. Non-significant findings should not be interpreted as evidence of no effect. Larger, adequately powered trials are needed to clarify the impact of dry NaCl inhalation on mucociliary clearance in COPD.
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