Home oxygen therapy for bronchiolitis well-accepted by parents and caregivers: AAP
Australia: A recent study in the journal Pediatrics has supported home oxygen therapy (HOT) as an acceptable, safe, and feasible treatment for bronchiolitis. The study further adds that evidence of cost-effectiveness, however, remains limited.
Bronchiolitis is the forefront cause of hospitalization in children and infants younger than two years of age. Recent data, however, have shown a decrease in admissions for bronchiolitis, and there remains a substantial burden on the pediatric health care system. Hypoxia, dehydration, and increased work of breathing are the most common reasons for admission. Treatment remains supportive mainly. Home treatment options targeting these areas can potentially reduce the burden on individual family units and the health care system.
Hospital-at-Home (HAH) provides hospital-level care at home, reducing pressure on the hospital system. Considering this, Joanna Lawrence, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues aimed to review the acceptability, feasibility, and safety of HAH for bronchiolitis and assess the cost-impact on society and hospitals.
For this purpose, the researchers searched the databases Embase, Pubmed, Ovid Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CINAHL. They selected retrospective audits, randomized control trials, and prospective observational trials of infants with bronchiolitis who received HAH (nasogastric feeding, oxygen, remote monitoring). Studies have been limited to the English language since 2000. All analyses were reviewed in duplicate for inclusion, data extraction, and risk of bias.
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