Clinical research on the treatment of severe attack of bronchial asthma with methylprednisolone

Objective To study the treatment of severe attack of bronchial asthma with methylprednisolone and dexamethasone.Methods 89 inpatients with severe attack of bronchial asthma admitted into our hospital from May 2003 to March 2007 were divided into two groups.The treatment group included 44 patients and control group included 45 patients.Besides conventional therapy for two groups,the treatment group was given methylprednisolone 80 mg/time,2 times/day and control group was given dexamethasone 15 mg/time,2 times/day.The symptom and sign,the arterial blood gas were recorded before the treatment and on the 3rd day after the treatment and analysed.Result Before the treatment,all the patients of two groups were severe attack of bronchial asthma and there was no statistical difference.Mean PaO2 of two groups was compared and the difference was not significant(P0.05).The rate of perfect effectiveness was 93.2%(41/44)in treatment group and 68.9%(31/45)in control group on the 3rd day after the treatment and there was statistical difference in two groups(P0.01).PaO2 in treatment group was(87.1±7.4)mm Hg and(69.5±6.8)mm Hg in control group and there was statistical difference(P0.05).Conclusion Methylprednisolone has better effectiveness in the treatment of severe attack of bronchial asthma,and may shorten the time in hospital.