Efficacy of Chest Physical Therapy in Pediatric Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a major cause of death among all age groups resulting in four million deaths yearly especially in those less than five years. Chest physical therapy has been used to treat pediatrics hospitalized with pneumonia with lack of scientific evidence for the beneficial effect in pediatrics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of chest physiotherapy on pediatrics hospitalized with pneumonia. A randomized controlled study was conducted at the Pediatric University Hospital, Cairo University Hospitals. Fifty children aged 29 days to 5 years hospitalized with pneumonia between October 2014 and January 2015 were obtained, 25 were randomly allocated to the study group (chest physical therapy and standard treatment for pneumonia) and 25 to the control group (the standard treatment for pneumonia alone without chest physical therapy). There were significant improvement in time to clinical resolution, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation in hospitalized pediatric with pneumonia after chest physical therapy program. It was concluded that chest physical therapy showed significant improvements in pediatric hospitalized with pneumonia.