Evaluatiin the Effectiveness of Magnesium Sulfate Nebulizer in

Acute Bronchiolitis is a common seasonal lower respiratory disease in infants. Syncytial respiratory virus is responsible for more than 50 percent of bronchiolitis events. The treatment is usually supportive. This study was done to examine the efficacy of nebulizer magnesium sulfate in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis. This study was a double blind clinical trial in which 60 patients admitted with acute bronchiolitis in Alzahra, Amin and Shariati hospitals in Isfahan, Iran during 2010 and 2011 were studied. Patients were randomly divided into two groups, A and B. Group A were treated by magnesium sulfate, epinephrine and normal saline and group B were treated only by epinephrine and normal saline. Severity of symptoms was investigated by measuring the temperature, SPO2, pulse rate (PR), respiratory rate (RR) and respiratory distress assessment instrument (RDAI) index, at the beginning of stuy to 3 days after treatment by follow-up questionnaires. Data were analyzed by Student t-test and repeated measure ANOVA. The mean of temperature, SPO2, PR, RR and RDAI at admission and during hospital stay was not significantly different between two groups. After removing the confounding effect of different arrival, RDAI in second and third days in group A was significantly less than group B (P < 0.01). According to this study, treatment with magnesium sulfate has no effect on symptoms of acute bronchiolitis. Magnesium sulfate can reduce RDAI only in the second and third days of hospitalization.