Effectiveness of nebulised hypertonic saline 3 percente versus 7 percent in acute bronchiolitis in young children: A randomised controlled study.

Acute bronchiolitis is an important cause of morbidity in young children. It is the most common cause of hospitalization due to lower respiratory tract infection.Bronchiolitis is an infection typically caused by viruses. With an improvement in diagnostic ability to identify viruses in respiratory secretions, multiple viral agents like Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Rhinovirus, Parainfluenza virus, Adenovirus have been identified as causative agents in acute bronchiolitis.RSV is the most common cause of acute bronchiolitis counting for 50 to 80 percent cases.

Aerosolised hypertonic saline has been proposed as a therapeutic modality for acute bronchiolitis. Hypertonic saline may reverse some pathophysiological abnormalities in acute bronchiolitis by decreasing epithelial edema, improving elasticity and viscosity of mucus and thus improving airway clearance. At present there is still dilemma over effectivness of different concentrations of hypertonic saline.

In the present scenario respiratory illness profile is being clearly outlined as viral or bacterial, it necessitates the need for more precise guidlines for further management.Therefore the current study is undertaken to know the effect of nebulised 3 percent hypertonic saline in young children with acute bronchiolitis compared to those receiving nebulised 7 percent saline.