Singap Med J
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Safety, tolerability and efficacy of LEGA-Kid® mechanical percussion device versus conventional chest physiotherapy in children: a randomised, single-blind controlled study.
Chest physiotherapy (CPT) may benefit children aged below five years who suffer from lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). However, its effects depend on the technique used. This study aimed to determine whether mechanical CPT using the LEGA-Kid® mechanical percussion device is superior to manual CPT in children with LRTI. ⋯ Children receiving both manual and mechanical CPT showed improvements in respiratory distress symptoms, with no adverse effects. A combined strategy of nebulised hypertonic saline followed by CPT for LRTI removes airway secretions and results in improvements in moderately severe respiratory distress. The LEGA-Kid mechanical CPT method is superior to manual CPT in reducing the RR.
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In view of the important role of the environment in improving population health, implementation of health promotion programmes is recommended in living and working environments. Assessing the prevalence of such community health-promoting practices is important to identify gaps and make continuous and tangible improvements to health-promoting environments. We aimed to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of a composite scorecard used to assess the prevalence of community health-promoting practices in Singapore. ⋯ The composite scorecard demonstrated a high degree of reliability and yielded similar scores for the same residential zone, even when used by different raters.