Efficacy and safety of Laggera pterodonta in children 3-24 months with acute bronchiolitis: a randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Laggera pterodonta, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been commonly used in respiratory tract infections for more than hundreds of years without any randomized controlled trials to evaluate its efficacy and safety. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Laggera pterodonta in hospitalized children aged 3-24 months with acute bronchiolitis. METHODS: A double-blind, randomized-controlled trial was conducted in three tertiary hospitals of Kunming, China. A total of 133 acute bronchiolitis children with an initial episode of wheezing were randomly assigned to a control mixture or Laggera pterodonta mixture. All recruited patients were given three doses of the mixture every 24 h for 5 days. Clinical symptoms and responses including adverse events in both groups were assessed and laboratory tests were done at enrolment and then after 120 h. Analysis was performed based on an intention-to-treat principle. RESULTS: Significantly more hospitalized children fulfilled the discharge criteria at 96 h and 120 h in the Laggera pterodonta mixture group compared to the control group (97% vs 75.8% P < 0.001 and 98.5% vs 89.4% P = 0.03), respectively. Better responses on clinical severity score, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, wheezing and heart rate were also detected in the Laggera pterodonta mixture group along with lower white blood cell count, platelet count and aspartate aminotransferase. Vomiting and diarrhea were more common in the control group. CONCLUSION: Laggera pterodonta mixture is effective and safe to be prescribed in hospitalized children with acute bronchiolitis.

Satisfaction and Preference for Traditional Chinese Medicine Drugs Among Guardians of Children with Acute Bronchiolitis.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the satisfaction, concerns, and preference for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) drugs among guardians of children with acute bronchiolitis, assess the agreement between satisfaction and preference, and explore the factors associated with satisfaction. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three main tertiary hospitals in Kunming, China, from September 2012 to July 2013 by structured questionnaire interviews. The characteristics of children and their guardians and guardians' satisfaction with and preference for TCM drugs were collected and analyzed by using chi-square or Fisher exact test. The agreement of satisfaction and preference was assessed by κ and prevalence-adjusted κ coefficients. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with satisfaction. RESULTS: A total of 286 guardians were enrolled in the study. Most children (97.6%) were younger than age 2 years. In total, the rates of satisfaction and preference for TCM drugs were 75.5% and 73.1%, respectively, and preference and satisfaction levels did not significantly differ between TCM and non-TCM hospitals. Guardians with higher socioeconomic status were more satisfied with TCM drugs, and the most common reason for preference for TCM drugs was that they had less toxicity or fewer adverse effects. Guardians were concerned most about safety and least concerned about cost. The agreement between satisfaction and preference was moderate in general (prevalence-adjusted κ=0.42). CONCLUSIONS: Three fourths of the Chinese guardians of children with acute bronchiolitis were satisfied with and preferred the TCM drugs. Moderate agreement between satisfaction and preference was shown.