[Superoxide inhalation as adjuvant therapy in children with bronchial asthma]

The aim of the present investigation was to confirm results of an earlier pilot study on the adjuvant treatment of atopic asthmatics using superoxide inhalation in a double blind placebo controlled experiment. Group 1 (verum) included 28 patients (7 girls and 21 boys whose age was 12.2c2.9 years) and Group 2 (placebo) comprised 23 (8 girls and 15 boys aged 11.7c3.2 years). Fifteen-minute superoxide inhalations were used as adjuvant therapy to the routine treatment. The patients underwent spirometry, blood analysis, nasal smear tests for eosinophils, and questionnaires. The worse the baseline parameters were, the better their spirometric ones were. This was reflected by higher significant correlations between the baseline values and their changes in peak flowmetry, FEV1, and FEF and by the patients' grouping by the baseline limitation of respiratory functions (less than 80% or more of the individual normal values). The most significant improvement (46.5%; p = 0.008) was observed in the subgroup with VC. In accordance with subjective assessment data, the time course of reductions in the frequency and severity of asthma attacks and coughing fits, and sputum amount was significantly better in Group 1 than in Group 2. The findings are interpreted as a result of an alleviated inflammatory process due to superoxide inhalation-induced oxidative training in patients.