Giving children salt water nasal drops at the first sign of a cold can reduce the illness by two days, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Vienna. The unpublished study, led by Professor Steve Cunningham of the University of Edinburgh, found that children who received the drops had cold symptoms for an average of six days, compared with eight days for those receiving usual care.
The ELVIS-Kids randomised controlled trial recruited 407 children aged up to six. Of the 301 who developed a cold, 150 were given hypertonic saline nose drops – a 2.6% salt solution – while the rest received standard care. Parents of the children using the drops were taught to make and administer the solution, applying three drops to each nostril at least four times daily until the child recovered. The study also found that only 46% of households in the treatment group had another family member catch a cold, compared with 61% in the control group.
Professor Cunningham said children typically experience 10 to 12 colds a year, and although medicines can relieve symptoms, nothing previously had been shown to speed recovery. He noted that the concentration used in the study is not currently available over the counter, but his team plans to release instructions and a video to help parents prepare the drops at home. He added that while 3% hypertonic saline solutions are already available, the 2.6% concentration would need to be made up by parents until a suitable commercial product is developed.
The researchers suggest the salt works by providing chloride, which cells lining the nose and airways use to produce hypochlorous acid – a substance that helps suppress viral replication. This mechanism may explain why the children receiving the drops recovered more quickly and were less likely to pass the infection on to family members. Of the parents involved, 82% felt the drops helped their child get better faster, and 81% said they would use them again.
Dr Matthew Siggins, a research fellow at Imperial College London who was not involved in the study, said the results matched a recent adult study that also found saline reduced symptom duration by around two days. However, he cautioned that the effect was moderate and that it was unclear whether all children benefited equally. He stressed that vaccination remains the best way to prevent infection and spread, while describing the reduction in household transmission as encouraging.
