Nullifying the long-believed myth, a recent medical review has suggested that humid air cannot relieve croup patients from noisy croup breathing and barking cough.

It was remarked by lead reviewer Michael Moore, a family doctor at Three Swans Surgery in Salisbury, England, that it common for families of the croup patients to get them near a hot bath or have hot water in corners of the room but this is not worth the efforts.

Moore further remarked that studies show no benefits accruing from humid air or use of moisturized air in an emergency department but there is a possibility that some existing benefits of humidified air inhalation may not have been picked up during the studies. It was suggested that there is a need for researchers to get more engaged in community settings.

From News-Medical.Net:

Croup is a set of symptoms that causes swelling in the upper part of the airway and affects the voice box. The condition usually is caused by a viral infection. Young children are especially susceptible to croup because the infants and toddlers have narrower airways than older children and adults.

Physicians rate the severity of croup by noting signs of labored breathing and poor oxygen intake. The croup score and health outcomes for the children treated with moist air were not significantly different than the scores for the patients who received no treatment, the review found.

“I think that probably the successes that were attributed to humidity in the past were due to the calming effect of the parent believing that they were doing something, the child taking deeper breaths, the child getting over the spasmodic element of the croup, and then just getting better,” said Dennis Scolnik, an emergency room pediatrician at The Hospital for Sick Children/Toronto in Ontario, Canada.

Scolnik remarked that some of the calming techniques can indeed be tried at the home place for providing a relief to some one with mild croup. It is worth noting here that steroids are often prescribed for reducing vocal chord inflammation and physicians make use of nebulized (given by mist) adrenaline for moderately severe croup for relieving a patient from symptoms.