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Tuesday, July 06, 2004The findings were based on 100 children aged 2 to 18 with upper respiratory infections. Their parents were quizzed about the severity of the children's cough and how well both parents and children slept the previous night. In the evening of the day the parents were questioned the children were given either one of the commercial preparations or an inert placebo -- in this case simple syrup. 'There was a significant improvement for all symptoms over the previous night, which should reassure clinicians and parents that, regardless of treatment, the natural history of an upper respiratory infection favors resolution of symptoms with time,' Paul said. ...He said the sleep of both parents and children improved but the improvement was the same in the group given sugar syrup as for the children given the drugs. Asked what parents should do, Paul said 'my advice has been to do things that are harmless but could help -- saline nose drops, good hydration and humidified air. It would be interesting to know if the results would be the same if the children were asked how well they slept after getting placebo. The placebo effect would be expected to be strong in this study, since it's the parents' perceptions that are being evaluated, and when a parent has a sick child, their perceptions are twisted by anxiety. They feel an intense need to do something - anything - so their child won't suffer. Cough medicine fills that need nicely, whether or not it's real medicine or sugar water. Of course they would sleep better after giving it. But were their children's coughs any better? posted by Sydney on 7/06/2004 07:04:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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