Asthma and lower airway diseaseThe immunostimulant OM-85 BV prevents wheezing attacks in preschool children
Section snippets
Patients
The study included children who were 1 to 6 years old with 3 or more acute wheezing attacks induced by respiratory tract illness in the previous 6 months (according to medical records from outpatient clinics). Exclusion criteria were as follows: anatomic alterations of the respiratory tract; chronic respiratory diseases (tuberculosis and cystic fibrosis); autoimmune disease; liver or kidney failure; malnutrition; cancer; treatment with inhaled or systemic corticosteroids within the previous
Results
Eighty of 100 children were selected to participate in the trial. All participants in the placebo group completed the trial, but 5 patients in the OM-85 BV group did not. In the OM-85 BV group 1 patient refused to take the drug at the beginning of the study and was excluded from the study, 2 patients moved to another city (within the first 3 months of the study), and 2 patients did not attend any follow-up visits. The remaining 75 subjects (35 in the OM-85 BV group and 40 in the placebo group)
Discussion
We investigated the effects of OM-85 BV treatment on virus-provoked wheezing in preschool children with recurrent wheezing. We demonstrated in our study that treatment with OM-85 BV significantly reduced the incidence of acute wheezing attacks. The effects seem to be secondary to a reduction in respiratory tract illnesses. Much of the difference in the placebo group in terms of the rates of illness is certainly due to the seasonal fluctuations in respiratory tract illnesses. The rate of illness
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Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: The authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.