Comparative efficacy of intravenous methylprednisolone versus intravenous hydrocortisone in acute severe asthma

Objective

To compare the efficacy of intravenous methylprednisolone versus intravenous hydrocortisone in acute severe asthma Study Design: It was a quasi-experimental interventional study, conducted on 60 patients of acute severe asthma, presenting to the emergency department of MH Rawalpindi. Place and Duration of Study: Military Hospital Rawalpindi from Jan 2001 to Dec 2002. Patients and Methods: Patients fulfilling the criteria were divided into two groups of 30 patients each by convenience sampling. Group-I received intravenous methylprednisolone sodium succinate 125 mg as a single dose within half an hour of admission while group-2 received intravenous hydrocortisone 200 mg bolus followed by three doses of 100mg at six hours interval for next 24 hours. In addition, both the groups received nebulized salbutamol 2.5 mg diluted with 5 ml of distilled water at an interval of 30 minutes for first hour then 4 hourly along with oxygen at a rate 4-5 liters /minutes. Pulse rate and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR: best of three attempts) were recorded on admission and subsequently at interval of six, twelve, eighteen and twenty-four hours of admission. Significant improvement in pulse rate was defined as its fall below 100 per minute and that of PEFR as its rise above 65% of predicted.