| Methods |
Randomization: yes (mentioned in passing only)
Blinding: no
Number excluded: 23
Withdrawals: 8 (6 from iv salb because unsatisfactory response starting at 8 to 32 hrs and 2 from comparison at 24 h due to no response)
Baseline characteristics: HR 109 (sd 4) salb, 107 (sd 5) amino, 110 (sd 3) cont; BP 134 (sd 5) / 81 (sd 2) salb, 141 (sd 6) / 83 (sd 3) amino, 137 (sd 3) / 83 (sd 2) cont; PaO2 8.3 (sd 0.3) salb, 7.5 (sd 0.7) amino, 8.0 (sd 0.4) cont; PaCO2 5.1 (sd 0.2) salb, 5.0 (sd 0.1) amino, 5.2 (sd 0.3) cont; pH 7.4 (sd 0.01) salb, 7.38 (sd 0.01), 7.4 (sd 0.01) cont; PEFR/FEV 98 (sd 8 ) / 0.6 (sd 0.1) salb, 92 (sd 9) / 1.1 (sd 0.2) amino, 108 (sd 10) / 1.0 (sd 0.1) cont
Jadad score: "weak", score < 3 |
| Participants |
Location: London, England
Participants: initially 62, 39 final (23 improved with run in Rx); 16‐ 65 yrs (mean 36.2 salb, 41.9 amino, 36.7 control); males 9 salb, 4 amino, 11 cont; females 11 salb, 15 amino, 12 cont; height 168.2 cm (SD 1.9) salb, 162.6 cm (SD 1.7) amino, 167.9 cm (SD 1.8) cont; weight 63.9 kg (SD 1.5) salb, 60.8 kg (SD 2.6) amino, 63.5 kg (SD 1.5) cont
Asthma definition and severity: PEFR<150 (not mentioned, abstracted from article instead), run in phase for about 45 min of aminophylline/ neb salbutamol/ hydrocortisone, RCT
Exclusion criteria: presence of CV or renal disease, improvement with run in phase
Inhaled corticosteroid use: 30 equally distributed |
| Interventions |
Run in phase with inclusion and rand at 75 min, consecutive pts, parallel cohort of drug A vs. drug B, crossover possible at MD discretion, compared to 'control' group
Standard care: For first 75 min O2 NPV 35%, aminophylline 5 mg/kg iv load, hydrocortisone 200 mg iv, prednisone 40 mg po qd, salbutamol 5 mg IPPB q6h, physioTx
Treatment group: aminophylline infusion 1 mg/min at 75 min and 'control group' of inhaled salbutamol vs. salbutamol iv infusion at 10 ug/min at 75 min
Placebo: none |
| Outcomes |
PFTs: PEFR/% PEFR Response/FEV salb 146 (sd10)/ FVC 2 (sd 0.2)/ 0.8 (sd 0.1), 133.3 / ? / 0.79, 148 / ? / 1.0; cont 145 (sd 15)/ FVC 1.9 (sd 0.2)/ 0.9 (sd 0.1), 150 / ? / 0.93, 170.8 / ? / 1.07
Timing: 15, 60, 360 min
Admissions:
Side effects: no details
Complications: |
| Notes |
|
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Information not available |
