Asthma affects approximately 9.3% of children in the US and accounts for 1.8 million pediatric emergency department (ED) visits annually.¹ Prior to this study, standard asthma therapy in the ED included high-dose inhaled beta-agonists and systemic corticosteroids. Ipratropium had been well studied as an adjunctive agent in adults with proven improvement in bronchodilation and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). However, the efficacy of ipratropium in the treatment of pediatric asthma was not well known.

To measure the effect of the addition of ipratropium to standard asthma therapy (3 nebulized albuterol treatments and oral corticosteroids) in the pediatric ED.

Double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial in a single US pediatric ED from 1997 to 1998.