RESULTS
Sixty three children (boys26) who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were randomized but only 52 children (boys 21) completed the study protocol. There were 11drop outs at different stages of the trial but the sub analysis of the basic demographic parameters and baseline lung functions of them showed no significant difference from the group of children who completed the study.
Figure 1 shows the number of children in the two groups (A and B) and the total number of participants at each stage of the study. Out of the dropped out patients 3 patients found it difficult to attend the clinic due to distance. Parents of two patients who were started on HS in the initial phase were not willing to switch over to conventional (control) arm after the washout as parents felt the clinical and lung volume improvement of their children were good. Six children could not complete the second phase due to an unexpected shortage of 3 % saline in the country and had to remove from the study.
Commonest aetiology of bronchiectasis among the children enrolled was post infective (33/63) and the rest consisted of primary immune deficiency related conditions (6/63), congenital structural malformations (3/63), post tuberculosis (2/63), aspiration syndromes (3/63) and aetiology was unknown in a quarter of patients(16/63).
The mean age was 9.3±2.6 years. Table 1shows the baseline parameters of the two groups and they did not show any difference.
TABLE 1: Baseline Characteristics of the two samples