Effects of Albuterol Compared to Saline Placebo
When comparing albuterol to aerosolized saline, neither albuterol dose level significantly increased or decreased average post-therapy EF75 measurements beyond the effects observed for saline placebo (Table 3). The average adjusted differences for the absolute change in EF75 (post - pre-treatment), relative to the level of change with aerosolized saline, were 0.26L/min (95% CI -0.19, 0.72) for 1.25mg of albuterol and -0.10L/min (95% CI -0.77, 0.57) for 2.5mg of albuterol. Similar results were observed when evaluating the proportional change in EF75 [(post-pre)/pre] (Table 3). The 2.5mg of dose of albuterol produced, on average, a 7.5% (95% CI 2.6-12.3) greater reduction in the peak inspiratory pressure required to deliver the infants’ goal tidal volumes. However, this dose also led on average to 6.5% (95% CI 2.2-10.8) greater post-treatment increase in heart rate when compared to aerosolized saline (Table 3).