Other Therapy
The few randomized, placebo-controlled trials that
have examined the effect of β2-agonists adminis-
tered orally or by aerosol for cough associated with
acute bronchitis have involved small numbers of
patients and have had mixed results.34-36 In these
studies, among patients without preexisting lung
disease, daily cough scores and the likelihood of
persistent cough after 7 days did not differ signifi-
cantly between the active treatment and placebo
groups. However, in one trial, a subgroup of pa-
tients with evidence of airflow limitation had sig-
nificantly lower scores for symptoms on day 2 after
treatment with β -agonists.34 A recent Cochrane 2
Review of five trials involving 418 adults showed that even among patients with airflow obstruction, the potential benefit of β2-agonists is not well supported and should be balanced against the ad- verse effects of treatment.37 In practice, a brief trial (7 days) of inhaled or oral corticosteroids may be reasonable for troublesome cough (i.e., cough per- sisting for more than 20 days), but there are no clinical trial data to support this approach. Data from clinical trials are also not available to support the use of mucolytic or antitussive agents.