Chest therapy not useful for pneumonia in kids

By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Chest physical therapy, which consists of deep breathing, turning movements, and other exercises, in children with pneumonia does not lead to faster resolution of symptoms and may even prolong them, researchers in Brazil report in the journal Thorax.

As investigator Dr. Linjie Zhang told Reuters Health, "The results of this study suggest that chest physical therapy should not be routinely indicated for children hospitalized with acute pneumonia."

Zhang and colleagues at the Federal University of Rio Grande came to this conclusion after studying 98 children up to 12 years of age who had been hospitalized for pneumonia. They were randomly assigned to receive standard antibiotic therapy alone or combined with physical therapy.

In both groups, it took roughly 4 days for the pneumonia to resolve and patients were hospitalized for 6 days. Coughing, however, lasted 5 days in the physical therapy group, but only 4 days in the standard therapy group.

Although the results suggest no benefit, in general, for kids with pneumonia, Zhang said that there may be certain subgroups of patients who will benefit, but that this will require further study.

SOURCE: Thorax, September 2008.