Steroids for Croup: Put Away Those Needles!

Intramuscular dexamethasone ameliorates croup, which is usually a several-day illness characterized by long nights of incessant, barking cough. The authors of this study compared IM and oral administration of dexamethasone in children with moderate-to-severe croup.

In a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial, 95 children aged 3 to 84 months with a Westley croup score of 2 or greater received either 0.6-mg/kg IM dexamethasone plus oral placebo or 0.6-mg/kg oral dexamethasone plus a sham injection. All patients were treated with cool mist therapy for 10 to 15 minutes. Parents were questioned by telephone approximately 24 hours and 10 days after the initial visit. At those intervals, there were no statistically significant differences betw…