Salt-water nose drops may reduce the length of the common cold in children

The European Respiratory Society have today published a press release detailing recent findings from the ELVIS-Kids study at the University of Edinburgh. This study explored whether offering hypertonic saline (salt-water) nose drops to children could reduce the length of the common cold in those aged up to 6 years.

Respiratory tract infections, known as the common cold, affect the average child 10 times per year. Although some medicines, such as paracetamol, can relieve symptoms, there are currently no treatments to shorten the length of a cold. Salt-water solutions are often used by people in South Asia to treat a cold, by gargling the liquid, or by washing the nose. The research team investigated whether this was beneficial in a large study.

The study involved 150 children, aged up to 6 years, receiving salt-water nose drops in their nose. A comparison group of 151 children received the usual cold care. Findings revealed that children receiving the salt-water drops showed symptoms for 6 days; 2 days fewer compared to children who received standard care.  A majority (82%) of parents said that salt-water nose drops helped their child to get better quickly, and many were keen to use this treatment in the future.

In addition, the children given salt-water nose drops were less likely to infect other family members. This means that the approach would have benefits to everyone, with families able to return to school and work quicker.

“This cheap and simple intervention has the potential to be applied globally; providing parents with a safe and effective way to limit the impact of colds in their children and family would represent a significant reduction in health and economic burden of this most common condition.” – Professor Alexander Moeller, Head of the ERS Paediatric Assembly and Head of the Department for Respiratory Medicine at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich

Although future work is needed to explore the further impact of salt-water nose drops, it may be that they become a cost-effective approach to be more widely-used in the future.

Read the full press release here.