Table 2.

 Patient status, laboratory data, and medication at study entry in prednisolone and placebo groups

Factor	Prednisolone (n = 23)	Placebo (n = 35)	p‐value
RSS, points†	6.8 (1.6)	6.6 (1.8)	0.67
O2‐saturation,%	95.5 (2.1)	95.1 (2.3)	0.51
Acute otitis media, no.	9 (39%)	15/34 (44%)	0.71
Blood eosinophils, ×109/l	0.43 (0.57)	0.49 (0.36)	0.90
Exhaled nitric oxide, ppb*	5.9 (4.0–7.8)	6.2 (4.9–11.4)	0.22
Rhinovirus, no.	7 (30%)	13 (37%)	0.60
Enteroviruses, no.	9 (39%)	12/32 (38%)	0.90
Nontypable rhino‐ or enterovirus, no.	3 (13%)	6 (17%)	1.00
Respiratory syncytial virus, no.	5 (22%)	5 (14%)	0.50
Adenovirus, no.	2 (9%)	5 (14%)	0.69
Parainfluenza virus types 1–4, no.	1 (4%)	2 (6%)	1.00
Influenza A or B virus, no.	1/22 (5%)	2 (6%)	1.00
Coronavirus. no.	1 (4%)	0 (0%)	0.40
Metapneumovirus, no.	1 (4%)	0 (0%)	0.40
Mixed viral infection, no.	7 (30%)	10 (29%)	0.88
Albuterol at ER, mg/kg	0.31 (0.24)	0.25 (0.21)	0.35
Antibiotic treatment, no.‡	11 (48%)	18 (52%)	0.79
Amoxicillin, no.	5 (22%)	12/34 (35%)	0.27
Amoxicillin + clavulanic acid, no.	1 (4%)	2/34 (6%)	1.00
Ceftriaxone, no.	3 (13%)	0/34 (0%)	0.061
Macrolide, no.	1 (4%)	2/34 (6%)	1.00
Sulfa + trimetoprim, no.	0 (0%)	1/34 (3%)	1.00
Nitrofurantoin, no.	1 (4%)	0/34 (0%)	0.40

ER, emergency room (before entry to the study).

Values are means (s.d.) or medians (interquartile range), unless otherwise noted. Analysis using t‐test, Mann–Whitney U test, chi‐square test, or Fischer's exact test when appropriate.

†Respiratory symptoms scores (RSS) were assessed on a scale from 0 (none) to 12 (severe).

*n = 20 for prednisolone group and n = 26 for placebo group.

‡Name of the antibiotic not available from one case. Antibiotics were administrated with standard dosages orally, except ceftriaxone with single dose 50 mg/kg i.m., maximum dose 500 mg, for those who could not take antibiotics orally.