Efficiency of controlled halotherapy in rehabilitation of patients with occupational lung diseases.

The study was aimed at features and efficiency of controlled halotherapy method in patients with occupational chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD). Examination covered 73 patients with occupational mild and moderate stages of COLD, aged 45 to 64. All the patients were randomized to 2 comparable groups - main and reference (37 and 36 examinees respectively). The main group in addition to conventional medical therapy received courses of controlled halotherapy (10 procedures with certain concentration of sodium chloride dry aerosol in accordance to methodic recommendations). Based on complex evaluation of clinical, functional and laboratory methods, the authors assessed efficiency of controlled halotherapy in patients with occupational COLD. Considerable improvement was seen: for mild COLD-- in 40% of cases, for moderate COLD - in 30%, with general efficiency for these patients of 90 and 85% respectively. Analysis of the results obtained enables to evaluate controlled halotherapy as an effective method of rehabilitation and prevention in occupational COLD patients.