Effect of nasal suction on reliving feeding difficulty in children affected with bronchiolitis

Abstract

Background: Bronchiolitis is the most common disease of the lower respiratory tract during the first year of life. Although bronchiolitis is a prevalent illness in India, very few studies are performed in India regarding management of bronchiolitis. Supportive care is the mainstay of treatment concentrating on fluid replacement and gentle suctioning of nasal secretions, oxygen therapy, and respiratory support if necessary. Infants affected with bronchiolitis also have feeding difficulty which will lead to dehydration and also increase the severity of disease.Methods: A prospective randomized control study was performed in the department of Pediatrics SSMC Rewa. Nasal suction was performed in 75 patients classified under the case group. Feeding difficulty was assessed before and after the suction for 24 hours.Results: We noted that after the first episode of nasal suction which is at 0th hour feeding difficulty was persisted in most of the patients. The p-value was 0.1148 which is not significant. But from 4th hour till the 16th hour the difficulty in feeding decreased after the nasal suction, and by Chi-square test this improvement was statistically. From 20th hour difficulty in feeding still improved after nasal suction but this change was not statistically significant.Conclusions: Nasal suction is an effective supportive treatment in the patients with bronchiolitis and by its use it improves the feeding in the infants suffering from bronchiolitis.