Single-dose intravenous salbutamol bolus for managing children with acute severe asthma in the emergency department:Reanalysis of data

OBJECTIVE: To reanalyze data from two previous studies to provide stronger evidence of benefit for early use of single-dose intravenous bolus salbutamol in children with acute severe exacerbations of asthma. Methods: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 84 children with acute severe asthma who presented to the emergency department of the Children's Hospital at Westmead. After clinical evaluation, patients who had severe asthma were given high-dose inhaled salbutamol and had an intravenous cannula inserted. Additional treatment consisted of intravenous methylprednisolone (1 mg/kg), oxygen (6 L/min via mask if Sao(2) was