Sunday, May 24, 2009

Honey Beats Dextromethorphan for Childrens’ Cough

Honey, Not Dextromethorphan, was Better Than No Treatment for Nocturnal Cough in Children with Upper Respiratory Infections
Archives of Disease in Childhood - Education and Practice, 2009;94:96

Design: randomised controlled trial.

Blinding: blinded (outcome assessors, patients and healthcare providers [to dextromethorphan (DM) and honey], {data collectors, data analysts, and manuscript writers}).*

Setting: a university-affiliated paediatric practice in Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.

Patients: {108} children 2–18 years of age (median age 5 y, range 2–17 y, 53% girls) who had cough due to an upper respiratory infection (rhinorrhoea and cough for 7 days) and whose parents scored 3 points (somewhat) for 2 of 3 questions on a 7-point Likert scale that assessed cough and sleep difficulty (0 = not at all to 6 = extremely). Exclusion criteria included signs and symptoms of asthma, pneumonia, laryngotracheobronchitis, sinusitis, or allergic rhinitis; reactive airways disease; chronic lung disease; use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; or use of an antihistamine or DM hydrobromide 6 hours from bedtime or DM polistirex 12 hours from bedtime on the day before or of enrolment.

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