Randomised Trial: Adrenaline & Dexamethasone Vs. Adrenaline In Children With Bronchiolitis

Objective: To compare treatment outcomes with adrenaline and dexamethasone versus adrenaline alone in children with bronchiolitis. Methods: It was a Randomized controlled trial parallel group ratio 1:1 with non-probability convenient sampling conducted at the Pediatrics Department, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi from 1st September 2022 to 2nd March 2023. A total of 64 children were included. The clinical severity score was noted down at baseline. The patients were randomized into two groups with 32 in each group. Children in Group A received nebulized adrenaline and intramuscular dexamethasone and Group B received only nebulized adrenaline. Patients were assessed at every 30 minutes up to 120 minutes, then after every 4 hours & outcomes were assessed. Results: The mean age of the patients in Group A versus B was 12.6±4.59 & 12.4±5.69 months respectively. In Group A versus B, the mean clinical severity score at the time of discharge was 3.3±0.88 & 4.4±0.61 with a p-value of 0.000, mean duration of hospital stay was 3.3±0.88 & 4.4±0.61 with a p-value of 0.000 and readmission at 7th day after initial treatment occurred in 3 (9.4%) & 9 (28.1%) patients with p value 0.05 respectively. Conclusion: In children with bronchiolitis, a combination of adrenaline and dexamethasone was significantly associated with lower clinical severity scores, shorter duration of hospitalization and lesser rates of readmission compared to adrenaline alone. Keywords: Adrenaline, Bronchiolitis, Dexamethasone.