A common steroid treatment involving dexamethasone that is often prescribed to young children with bronchiolitis is not an effective option to bring improvements in symptoms or minimizing hospitalization, as per DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

The finding of this study appeared in an issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

From News-Medical.Net:

Prashant Mahajan, M.D., M.P.H, M.B.A, DMC Children’s Hospital vice chief of pediatric emergency medicine and associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine was a lead co- investigator in this nation-wide study involving 600 infants aged two to 12 months. The research was conducted through the 21-site Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN), the first federally-funded multi- institutional network for research in pediatric emergency medicine. Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) program, the study also received funding from HRSA’s research program, as well as core funding from PECARN. The PECARN network is funded with cooperative agreements with HRSA, as part of the EMSC program.

The study finding is expected to offer insights to medical practitioners, all over the globe, in treating young children with bronchiolitis.