Table 2.

Summary of double blind, placebo controlled, randomised controlled trials of oral steroids for preschool wheeze

	Study	N	Study population	Design	Age	Intervention	Duration	Findings
ED all pre-school age range	Csonka 2003	230	ED	Parallel - 2 arm	6-35 mo	Prednisolone	3 days	Significantly fewer prednisolone patients needed additional asthma medication. Significantly shorter hospital stay. No reduction in hospitalisation.
			Exclusion = 2 or more previous episodes of wheezing			2 mg/kg/day
	Panickar 2009	687	Hospitalised children	Parallel - 2 arm	10 mo - 6 y	Prednisolone	5 days	No reduction in time to discharge.
						20 mg/day
						(10 mg for <2 years)
ED< 2 years	Daugbjerg 1993	123	Hospitalised children	Parallel - 4 arm	1.5-18 mo	1. Prednisolone & Terbutaline 2. Budesonide & Terbutaline 3. Terbutaline alone	3 days	Children from each of the prednisolone & bud groups discharged significantly earlier
						4. Placebo alone
						Prednisolone
						D1 4-6 mg/kg
						D2&3 2 mg/kg
	Fox 1996	59	Hospitalised children	Parallel - 3 arm	3-14 mo	Salbutamol plus prednisolone (2 mg/kg) or placebo or double placebo	5 days	No difference in treatment failures between prednisolone & placebo
			Inclusion = 1 or more previous episodes wheezing
Parent initiated	Grant 1995	86	ED / primary care	Crossover - 2 arm	2-14 y	Prednisolone	1 dose	No reduction in outpatient visits or hospitalisation
			Inclusion = 2 or more visits with wheezing in last year			2 mg/kg
	Oommen 2003	233	Previously hospitalised children	Parallel - 2 arm	1-5 y	Prednisolone	5 days	No difference in symptom score or hospital admissions
						20 mg/day