Honey Beats Dextromethorphan for Childrens’ Cough

Honey, Not Dextromethorphan, was Better Than No Treatment for Nocturnal Cough in Children with Upper Respiratory Infections
Archives of Disease in Childhood - Education and Practice, 2009;94:96

Design: randomised controlled trial.

Blinding: blinded (outcome assessors, patients and healthcare providers [to dextromethorphan (DM) and honey], {data collectors, data analysts, and manuscript writers}).*

Setting: a university-affiliated paediatric practice in Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.

Patients: {108} children 2–18 years of age (median age 5 y, range 2–17 y, 53% girls) who had cough due to an upper respiratory infection (rhinorrhoea and cough for 7 days) and whose parents scored 3 points (somewhat) for 2 of 3 questions on a 7-point Likert scale that assessed cough and sleep difficulty (0 = not at all to 6 = extremely). Exclusion criteria included signs and symptoms of asthma, pneumonia, laryngotracheobronchitis, sinusitis, or allergic rhinitis; reactive airways disease; chronic lung disease; use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; or use of an antihistamine or DM hydrobromide 6 hours from bedtime or DM polistirex 12 hours from bedtime on the day before or of enrolment.