Phytotherapy in acute bronchitis: what is the evidence?
نویسنده
چکیده
Background: Acute bronchitis, frequently emerging with the common cold is one of the most frequent causes of primary care consultations. It is a self-limiting disease which poses both high symptom burden to individuals and high financial burden to society. It is largely a viral disease (~50 % rhinovirus infection), but no causal (antiviral) treatment exists. Antibiotics, mucoactive agents, antihistamines, antitussives, decongestants are most often used but without evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCT) for relieving symptoms or fostering recovery. Many in vitro and ex vivo studies with standardized herbal extracts did show important effects on inflammatory mediators, mucus hypersecretion, cough and bronchospasm. Moreover, several successful clinical RCT’s with unique herbal compounds were published, many other are ongoing. Methods: Preliminary medline search for randomized controlled studies with herbal medicine for bronchitis. Results: Eighteen studies were found fulfilling search criteria; six were excluded due to duplicate publication, active comparator control or open design. In 2015 German cough guidelines (in preparation) at least 12 studies will provide evidence for developing recommendations for treatment of acute bronchitis. Conclusions: In conclusion, several herbal compounds achieved as first pharmaco-therapeutic remedies at all evidence for treatment of acute bronchitis/common cold. Evidence based guidelines are starting to include recommendations for treatment of acute bronchitis/common cold with dedicated phytomedicine.
منابع مشابه
Tolerance, safety and efficacy of Hedera helix extract in inflammatory bronchial diseases under clinical practice conditions: a prospective, open, multicentre postmarketing study in 9657 patients.
In this postmarketing study 9657 patients (5181 children) with bronchitis (acute or chronic bronchial inflammatory disease) were treated with a syrup containing dried ivy leaf extract. After 7 days of therapy, 95% of the patients showed improvement or healing of their symptoms. The safety of the therapy was very good with an overall incidence of adverse events of 2.1% (mainly gastrointestinal d...
متن کاملAntibiotics in acute bronchitis and exacerbations of chronic bronchitis: what is general practitioners' habit?
متن کامل
Epidemic of Acute Respiratory Disease Associated with Atypical Pneumonia.
Recently, the concept has developed that atypical pneumonia is merely an incident in what is usually a mild epidemic disease of the respiratory tract (1 to 6). A group of workers (3) summarize this idea: "There is thus no sharp dividing line, other than roentgen evidence . . . to differentiate cases of atypical pneumonia from cases of acute bronchitis resembling atypical pneumonia and from case...
متن کاملAcute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and antibiotics: what studies are still needed?
The use of antibiotics in acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECBs) remains the subject of controversy despite considerable medical and socioeconomic implications. First, the contribution of bacterial infection to AECBs is difficult to assess in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are chronically colonized with respiratory pathogens. In addition, several studi...
متن کاملChronic cough due to acute bronchitis: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
BACKGROUND The purpose of this review is to present the evidence for the diagnosis and treatment of cough due to acute bronchitis and make recommendations that will be useful for clinical practice. Acute bronchitis is one of the most common diagnoses made by primary care clinicians and emergency department physicians. It is an acute respiratory infection with a normal chest radiograph that is m...
متن کامل