Efficacy of Makyokansekito on Treatment of Wheezing Lower Respiratory Tract Infection in Children: A Retrospective Study of 68 Patients

Background: Lower respiratory tract infection of children is often accompanied by wheezing, and be treated in accordance with bronchial asthma. Makyokansekito is an herbal cough medicine especially for children with asthma. It is not common among pediatricians in Japan. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Makyokansekito in lower respiratory tract infection of children.

Methods: Subjects were sixty-eight patients (40 boys and 28 girls) hospitalized for wheezing lower respiratory tract infection (bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia) from April 2012 through March 2014. The median age of subjects was 14 months. The patients treated with Tsumura Makyokansekito (TJ-55) 0.1-0.2g/kg/day were compared with the patients treated without it retrospectively. Comparisons were made with the X²-test when appropriate. Values of p<0.05 were considered significant.

Results: Makyokansekito significantly decreased the number of days with persistent wheezing (p=0.032, median 2.9 vs 4.2 days) and with feeding humidified oxygen (p=0.035, median 4.7 vs 6.3 days) as compared with control. There were no differences in length of hospital stay. Side effects were not admitted.

Conclusions: Makyokansekito is useful in the treatment of wheezing lower respiratory tract infections of children.