Abstract
Background: Chest physiotherapy may contribute as an adjuvant treatment of pneumonia even though its indication remains controversial. Aim: To assess the effectiveness of chest physiotherapy in relation to time until clinical resolution in children (from birth up to 18 years old) of either gender with any type of pneumonia. Methods: This is a Cochrane systematic review (Chaves, G.S.S. et al. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 9). Trials were searched for in CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, LILACS, Web of Science and PEDro. Trial registers were also consulted. The types of studies were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared chest physiotherapy of any type with no chest physiotherapy. Two review authors independently selected the studies, assessed trials quality and extracted data. Results: Three RCTs involving 255 inpatient children are included in the review. Two of the included studies found a significant improvement in respiratory rate and oxygen saturation whereas one study failed to show that chest physiotherapy decreases the time to clinical resolution and the duration of hospital stay. Two included studies had an overall low risk of bias whereas one included study had an overall unclear risk of bias. Due to the different characteristics of the trials data were not able to be pooled by meta-analysis. Conclusions: This review does not provide conclusive evidence to justify the use of chest physiotherapy in children with pneumonia. The number of included studies is small and they differed in their statistical presentation of data.
- © 2014 ERS
