Impact of physical therapy on different types of bronchiolitis, patients, and care settings: A systematic review

ABSTRACT

Bronchiolitis is defined as an acute episode of wheezing that occurs in the context of a respiratory condition, usually of viral origin, with a high incidence in children under 2 years of age. Considering that the role of physical therapy has been questioned in this context, it is paramount to clarify and differentiate the impact of different physical therapy techniques employed for each type of bronchiolitis, patient, and care settings. A systematic review was performed, searching the Science Direct, MEDLINE/PubMed, and SciELO databases on physical therapy techniques in children up to 2 years of age with a bronchiolitis episode. Six observational studies, 5 experimental studies without control group and 15 with control group, involving 3339 individuals were included. Fourteen studies use inpatient samples, six analyze hospital and ICU samples, and six studied outpatient samples. Among the most commonly used respiratory physical therapy techniques are the prolonged slow expiration (PSE) associated with provoked coughing (PC), expiratory flow increase (EFI), retrograde rhinopharyngeal clearance (RRC) and postural drainage (PD). Positive results were found regarding respiratory physical therapy techniques, namely RRC, PSE and EFI or PC, on airway permeabilization, promotion of bronchial hygiene, hospital stay, oxygen saturation, clinical score, heart rate, respiratory rate, and need for oxygen therapy. As limitations of the study, it is highlighted the lack of studies with robust and comparable methodologies to draw conclusions with greater certainty, especially regarding different severities of the pathology, thus supporting the personalization and adequacy of interventions in clinical practice.

Keywords:
Physical Therapy; Bronchiolitis; Infant