They appreciate the nasal spray.
British researchers say that a hypertonic saline nasal spray could shorten the length of a child’s cold by two days and also reduce the risk of catching a cold in the family.
“Children suffer from upper respiratory tract infections, or colds, up to 10 to 12 times a year, which has a huge impact on them and their families,” explains Professor Steve Cunningham, from the University of Edinburgh. “There are medicines available to ease the symptoms, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, but there are no treatments to make the cold go away quickly.”
For the study, researchers instructed parents on how to make saltwater drops and apply them to their children’s noses: 150 infants were asked to apply three drops into each nostril at least four times a day until symptoms improved.
The remaining 151 children were given standard cold treatment.
“We found that children who used the saline nasal spray had cold symptoms that lasted an average of six days, compared with eight days for children who received usual care,” Cunningham said. “Children who received the saline nasal spray also needed less medicine during their illness.”
Only 46% of households where nasal sprays were used reported that a family member had contracted a child’s cold, compared with 61% of other households.
82% of parents said that nasal sprays helped their child’s symptoms improve quickly, and 81% said they planned to continue using nasal sprays in the future.
The study will soon be presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Vienna, Austria.
The study’s lead researcher, consultant virologist Sandeep Ramalingam, noted that people in South Asia often use salt water solutions to treat the common cold.
Cunningham said cells lining the respiratory tract use the chloride from the saltwater droplets to produce hypochlorous acid, which helps protect against the virus.
“By providing extra chloride to the lining cells, we help the cells produce more hypochlorous acid, which helps inhibit viral replication and shortens the duration of viral infection and therefore the duration of symptoms,” Cunningham said.
Alexander Moeller, head of the ERS Paediatric Conference, said the study was the first to look at the effect of salty nasal sprays on children’s colds.
“This extremely inexpensive and simple intervention has the potential to be applied worldwide. Providing parents with a safe and effective way to limit the impact of the common cold on their children and families will significantly reduce the health and economic burden of this most common disease,” said Mohler, who was not involved in the study.
The researchers also noticed that children who received the nasal spray wheez less when they had a cold, a finding they plan to investigate further.