None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
We aim to conduct a prospective randomized single blinded trail in the family medicine clinic and student clinic in the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital to assess the effectiveness of steroid in the management of sore throat. All adult patients aged more than 18 years old present with sore throat will be invited to take part in the study. The primary end point of evaluation is a change in the patient subjective rating of her or his pain. Patients who will be included will be randomized to either arms of the stuy. Each participant will be given an envelope which has either dexamethasone 10 mg (5 tablets, each of 2 mg) and the symptomatic treatment) ---or---- symptomatic treatment only together with the visual analogue score. Both treatment arms will be given the symptomatic treatment. The symptomatic treatment which is planned to be given includes antihistamin and antipyretic which are the usual treatment of sore throat. Patients will be asked to rate their pain on a visual analogue scale (VAS) from 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain imaginable. On enrolment, demographics, presenting symptoms and the VAS score for pain will be collected. Telephone follow-up will be performed as close to 12 hours and 24 hours and 48 hours after treatment as possible. During each telephone follow-up, patients will be asked to rate their current pain by using the VAS and to provide the time of initial onset of pain relief and the time of complete resolution of pain. The study will look at the following secondary outcome: time to complete symptoms resolution (VAS equal to zero), need for antibiotics prescription up to 7 days post treatment and self-reported side effects. The study has two arms. Both arms will receive the usual symptomatic treatment which include antihistamine and antipyretic. The intervention group will be given dexamethasone in addition to the usual symptomatic treatment, The control group will not be given it. Both groups will have the same follow up plan.
Interventions
patients with sore throat due to viral etiology will be randomized in to two groups. One group will receive single dose oral ( tablet) dexamethasone ( 10 mg ) and symptomatic treatment and the other group will be given the symptomatic treatment only.
the medication will be given in the health center under direct observation of the study personnel
Sponsors
Asma Al Shidhani
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
All adult patients aged more than 18 years old present with sore throat will be invited to take part in the study.
Exclusion criteria
Patients who are Pregnant or lactating, have history of recent use of inhaled or oral corticosteroid (one month), have history of current or recent use of antibiotics (one month), have adeno-tonsillectomy ( one month), have alternative clear diagnosis like pneumonia, or have immune deficiency status, are excluded from the study. In addition we plan to exclude also all patients who have clear indication for antibiotics according to the centor score. Those who have history of allergy to the studied medication or previous use of the medication with development of side effects are also excluded.
Outcome results
None listed