Non-invasive Ventilation vs. Standard Therapy for Children Hospitalized With an Acute Exacerbation of Asthma

Acute asthma produces greatly increased work of breathing and increased oxygen requirement secondary to bronchial narrowing and airway obstruction by inflammatory secretions. There is growing evidence that non-invasive ventilation can reverse these processes more efficiently than conventional asthma therapy. Surprisingly, there have not yet been any large scale prospective controlled studies to investigate this hypothesis, (either in adults or children). Consequently, the aim of this study is to determine if the use of non-invasive positive airway pressure, for children admitted to hospital with an acute exacerbation of asthma, reduces their work of breathing, need for adjunctive medications, and shortens the length of hospital stay, compared to current standard therapy.