Abstract
Background: Breathox® is a sodium chloride inhaler. Increase of the airway salinity has been proposed to reduce the symptomatic stage of a respiratory viral infection.
Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of nasal and inhaled sodium chloride therapy through Breathox® on mild COVID-19 symptoms in patients ≥ 18 years-old compared to usual care.
Methods: a pilot, open, randomized clinical trial, including 100 patients with confirmed and symptomatic COVID-19 within 10 days of symptom onset. All patients received standard of care (SOC), i.e. antipyretic or analgesic. Breathox® was administered as two oral inhalations and one nasal instillation in each nostril at each administration with 2mg per inhalation. Patients were randomized 1:1:1 into three groups: Group 1(G1): SOC + Breathox® 10 times daily for 10 days; Group 2(G2): SOC + Breathox® five times daily for 10 days; Group 3(G3): SOC. Recovery time for symptoms, such as cough was assessed.
Results: In total 100 of 103 screened patients were included from December 1 2021 to March 03 2022. Of those, 33 from G1 and G3, and 32 from G2 completed the study. Mean age was 40.4/42.2/40.6 years old for G1, G2 and G3, (p=0.96). No patients were hospitalized or died during the study. Time to cough resolution was reduced in G1 (2.8±0.66 days) and G2 (2.4±0.66 days) compared to G3 (5.39±0.79 days) (p=0.001), with a hazard ratio (HR) for G2 of 2.17 (Confidence interval 1.17-4.04) and G3 of 2.01 (1.06-3.81) compared to SOC.
Conclusion: ten days of Breathox® use halved the time for resolution of COVID-19-induced cough.
Footnotes
Cite this article as Eur Respir J 2022; 60: Suppl. 66, 4510.
This article was presented at the 2022 ERS International Congress, in session “-”.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2022
