Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via Commenda 9, 20122 Milano, Italy.
Ital J Pediatr. 2014 May 15;40:47. doi: 10.1186/1824-7288-40-47.
It has been shown that nasal saline irrigation (NSI) alone can be effective in children with infectious and/or allergic respiratory problems, but no study has assessed the awareness or clinical use of NSI among practising pediatricians. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the use of NSI in pre-school children by primary care pediatricians working in northern Italy.
Nine hundred randomly selected National Health Service primary care pediatricians with an e-mail address were sent an e-mail asking whether they were willing to respond to a questionnaire regarding the use of NSI. The 870 who answered positively were sent an anonymous questionnaire by post and e-mail that had 17 multiple-choice items.
Completed questionnaires were received from 860 of the 870 primary care pediatricians (98.8%). NSI was used by almost all the respondents (99.3%), although with significant differences in frequency. It was considered both a prophylactic and a therapeutic measure by most of the respondents (60.3%), who prescribed it every day for healthy children and more frequently when they were ill. Most of the primary care pediatricians (87%) indicated an isotonic solution as the preferred solution, and the most frequently recommended administration devices were a nasal spray (67.7%) and bulb syringe (20.6%). Most of the pediatricians (75.6%) convinced parents to use NSI by explaining it could have various beneficial effects, and two-thirds (527/854; 61.7%) thought that most of the parents agreed about the importance of NSI. Analysis of possible associations between NSI prescribing behaviour and the demographic data revealed an associations with age and gender, with pediatricians aged <50 years prescribing NSI more frequently than their older counterparts (p < 0.01), and females prescribing NSI more frequently than males (p < 0.01).
In Northern Italy, most primary care pediatricians prescribe NSI for both the prophylaxis and therapy of upper respiratory tract problems in pre-school children. However, many aspects of the procedure are not clarified, and this reduces parental compliance. Given the medical and economic advantages of NSI, this situation should be changed as soon as possible.
已经证明，单独使用鼻腔盐水冲洗（NSI）对患有传染性和/或过敏性呼吸道问题的儿童可能有效，但尚无研究评估在意大利北部工作的儿科医生对 NSI 的认识或临床应用。本研究的主要目的是评估在意大利北部使用 NSI 治疗学龄前儿童的初级保健儿科医生的情况。
随机选择 900 名有电子邮件地址的国家卫生服务初级保健儿科医生，向他们发送一封电子邮件，询问他们是否愿意回答有关 NSI 使用情况的问卷。对 870 名回答肯定的人通过邮寄和电子邮件匿名发送了一份包含 17 个多项选择题的问卷。
870 名初级保健儿科医生中有 860 名（98.8%）收到了完整的问卷。几乎所有的受访者（99.3%）都使用了 NSI，但使用频率存在显著差异。大多数受访者（60.3%）将 NSI 视为预防和治疗措施，他们每天为健康儿童开处方，并在生病时更频繁地开处方。大多数初级保健儿科医生（87%）表示首选等渗溶液，最常推荐的给药装置是鼻腔喷雾器（67.7%）和球囊注射器（20.6%）。大多数儿科医生（75.6%）通过解释 NSI 可能具有多种有益作用来说服家长使用 NSI，三分之二（527/854；61.7%）的儿科医生认为大多数家长都认为 NSI 很重要。对 NSI 处方行为与人口统计学数据之间的可能关联进行分析，结果显示与年龄和性别有关，年龄<50 岁的儿科医生比年龄较大的医生更频繁地开 NSI 处方（p<0.01），女性比男性更频繁地开 NSI 处方（p<0.01）。
在意大利北部，大多数初级保健儿科医生为学龄前儿童的上呼吸道问题开 NSI 处方，用于预防和治疗。然而，该程序的许多方面并不明确，这降低了家长的依从性。鉴于 NSI 的医学和经济优势，这种情况应尽快改变。
