Effect of Chest Physical Therapy on Pediatrics Hospitalized With Pneumonia

Background: Pneumonia is a major cause of death among all age groups resulting in 4 million deaths yearly especially in those under five years. Chest physical therapy has been used to treat pediatrics hospitalized with pneumonia with lack of scientific evidence for the beneficial effect in pediatrics. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of chest physiotherapy on pediatrics hospitalized with pneumonia. Method and Materials: A randomized controlled study was conducted in Pediatric University Hospital and Cairo University Hospitals. Fifty children aged 29 days to 5 years hospitalized with pneumonia between October 2014 and January 2015 was obtained, 25 were randomly allocated to the study group (chest physical therapy and standard treatment for pneumonia) and 25 to the control group (standard treatment for pneumonia alone without chest physical therapy). The primary measurement was time to clinical resolution. The secondary measurements were changes of respiratory rate and arterial oxygen saturation. Results: There were significant differences in terms of median time to clinical resolution (4.0 vs 7.0 days, p = 0.012) and the study group had greater improvement in respiratory rate (40 to 30 b/m vs 39 to 34 b/m) and in arterial oxygen saturation (93 to 98% vs 93 to 95%) than the control group. Conclusion: It was concluded that chest physical therapy showed significant improvements in pediatrics hospitalized with pneumonia.