The Effect of Inhaled Salbutamol in Transient of Tachypnea of the Newborn: A Randomized Clinical Trial

[Background]Transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) is a common cause of respiratory distress in the neonatal period. There are few data regarding the pharmacotherapy for the management of TTN. Previous studies documented the therapeutic role for the beta₂ agonists in TTN by accelerating the clearance of excessive fluid from the alveolar space. The aim of present study was to assess the effect of salbutamol on major clinical outcomes including duration of oxygen therapy and improvement of respiratory symptoms.[Methods]This double blinded randomized clinical trial was conducted in 2014 in three urban tertiary care centers of Babol, North of Iran. Patients were assigned to receive either inhalational salbutamol (35 patients) or placebo (35 patients), and clinical outcomes were compared Before and after treatment in interval of 30 minutes, one, four and six hours from the beginning of the study.[Results]There was no significant difference between the clinical findings of salbutamol and placebo group before and 24 hours after the initiation of the study. After the exclusion of the neonates with retraction silverman anderson scor < 2, in salbutamol group the mean values of primary outcomes including; duration of oxygen therapy (P = 0.04) and hospitalization (P = 0.006) as well as initiation of enteral feeding (P = 0.013) were significantly lower than in placebo group.[Conclusions]Inhaled salbutamol resulted in shorter duration of respiratory support and hospitalization and earlier initiation of enteral feeding in TTN patients with moderate to severe respiratory symptoms. Further RCT studies with a larger study population and higher retraction score are suggested to achieve valid data in the management of TTN.