While putting a patient face down has been shown effective in restrictive lung diseases, there's been less rigorous evidence for primarily obstructive pathophysiology or for use in children.In this large randomized trial, prone positioning of infants on high-flow nasal cannula oxygen support for bronchiolitis didn't significantly reduce risk of progression to needing positive pressure ventilation.While the study didn't support universal use in this setting, further studies are needed to determine whether certain subgroups would benefit.
Prone positioning of infants on high-flow nasal cannula oxygen support for bronchiolitis didn't significantly reduce risk of progression to needing positive pressure ventilation, a large randomized trial showed.
Escalation of care occurred in 15.0% of infants placed in the prone position and 20.8% in the supine position, a difference that did not reach statistical significance (adjusted OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.40-1.07, P=0.09), reported Florent Baudin, MD, PhD, of Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant in Bron, France, and colleagues.
"However, the wide 95% confidence interval around the observed odds ratio suggests that this study was not definitive and further research is warranted," the research group concluded in JAMA.
