TABLE 1.

Characteristics of included studies.

Characteristics	Specific characteristics	Paludo et al. (2008)	Lukrafka et al. (2012)
Methods	Study design	Randomised controlled trial	Randomised controlled trial
	Withdrawal/drop-outs	9	7
Participants	Country	Brazil	Brazil
	Research setting	Hospital	Hospital
	Health condition	Acute pneumonia	Acute CAP
	Severity of symptoms	Mild to moderate	Mild to moderate
	Total sample enrolled	98	79
	Total sample analysed	89	72
	Age range	29 days – 12 years	1–12 years
	Inclusion criteria	Acute pneumonia with:presence of cough and/or fever; tachypnoea; consolidations and/or infiltrates on CXR between 29 days and 12 years old	Hospitalised with acute CAP (clinically and radiologically diagnosed), age 1–12 years
	Exclusion criteria	Chest drain; haemodynamic instability (ND); bone fragility or rib fractures; any other contra-indication to chest physiotherapy (ND)	Severely ill patients (ICU); chest drain; atelectasis detected by CXR; history of pneumonia or pleural effusion in previous 6 months; other pulmonary disease; heart disease; CP or immune deficiency
Interventions: Intervention group	Treatment description	Standard treatment and chest physiotherapy: PD, thoracic squeezing, percussions, vibrations, cough stimulation + aspiration/suctioning when necessary. PD positions guided by CXR	< 5 years: positioned in high side lying or high sitting, manual thoracic vibrations, thoracic compressions, PEP + artificially stimulated cough or suctioning
> 5 years: same as above + breathing exercises and FET
	Duration of treatment	About 30 minutes per treatment session	10–12 minutes per treatment session
	Frequency of treatment	Twice a day until discharge	Three times a day until discharge
	Intensity of treatment	Unclear	Unclear
	Compliance to treatment	Unclear	Unclear
Interventions: Control group	Treatment description	Standard treatment: antibiotics, fluid therapy and oxygen therapy as needed	Recommended non-mandatory request: lateral positioning, cough, perform diaphragmatic breathing
	Duration of treatment	Information not available	5 minutes (not mandatory)
	Frequency of treatment	Information not available	Once a day (not mandatory)
	Intensity of treatment	Unclear	Unclear
	Compliance to treatment	Unclear	Unclear
Outcomes	Primary outcomes	Time to clinical resolution	Severity score and respiratory rate
	Secondary outcomes	Length of hospital stay, persistence of respiratory symptoms and signs	Duration of hospitalisation

Note: Please see the full reference list of the article, Corten, L., Jelsma, J. & Morrow, B.M., 2015, ‘Chest physiotherapy in children with acute bacterial pneumonia’, South African Journal of Physiotherapy 71(1), Art. #256, 10 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajp.v71i1.256, for more information.

CAP, community-acquired pneumonia; CXR, chest X-ray; ND, not defined; ICU, intensive care unit; CP, cerebral palsy; PD, postural drainage; PEP, positive expiratory pressure; FET, forced expiratory technique.