| 3% hypertonic saline | 6% hypertonic saline | 0.9% normal saline | p-value | |
| Patients n | 84 | 83 | 80 | |
| Length of hospital stay h median (IQR) | 69 (57) | 70 (69) | 53 (52) | 0.29 |
| Supplemental Oxygen | ||||
| Patients n (%) | 50 (60) | 53 (64) | 51 (64) | 0.81 |
| Duration# h median (IQR) | 54 (48) | 54 (61) | 40 (41) | 0.14 |
| Tube feeding | ||||
| Patients n (%) | 29 (35) | 31 (37) | 22 (28) | 0.39 |
| Duration# h median (IQR) | 62 (58) | 52 (55) | 54 (83) | 0.87 |
| Median Wang score at discharge | 2.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.53 |
| Mean improvement of Wang score at discharge | −4.55 | −4.54 | −4.33 | 0.80 |
#: patients without oxygen, respectively tube fed, were excluded for analyses; IQR: interquartile range.