Original Article

Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2014 March;6(2):126-130.

http://dx.doi.org/10.4168/aair.2014.6.2.126
pISSN 2092-7355 • eISSN 2092-7363

The Effects of Inhaled Albuterol in Transient Tachypnea of the

Newborn
Myo-Jing Kim,1 Jae-Ho Yoo,1 Jin-A Jung,1 Shin-Yun Byun2*
1
Department of Pediatrics, Dong-A University, College of Medicine, Busan, Korea
2
Department of Pediatrics, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan, Korea

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Purpose: Transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) is a disorder caused by the delayed clearance of fetal alveolar fluid. ß-adrenergic agonists such
as albuterol (salbutamol) are known to catalyze lung fluid absorption. This study examined whether inhalational salbutamol therapy could improve
clinical symptoms in TTN. Additional endpoints included the diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy of salbutamol as well as its overall safety. Methods:
From January 2010 through December 2010, we conducted a prospective study of 40 newborns hospitalized with TTN in the neonatal intensive care
unit. Patients were given either inhalational salbutamol (28 patients) or placebo (12 patients), and clinical indices were compared. Results: The dura-
tion of tachypnea was shorter in patients receiving inhalational salbutamol therapy, although this difference was not statistically significant. The dura-
tion of supplemental oxygen therapy and the duration of empiric antibiotic treatment were significantly shorter in the salbutamol-treated group. No
adverse effects were observed in either treatment group. Conclusions: Inhalational salbutamol therapy reduced the duration of supplemental oxygen
therapy and the duration of empiric antibiotic treatment, with no adverse effects. However, the time between salbutamol therapy and clinical improve-
ment was too long to allow definitive conclusions to be drawn. Further studies examining a larger number of patients with strict control over dosage
and frequency of salbutamol inhalations are necessary to better direct the treatment of TTN.
Key Words: Transient tachypnea of the newborn; inhalation; albuterol

INTRODUCTION cleared from the lungs shortly after birth. In this process, Sodi-
um moves from the alveoli into pulmonary cells via the Na, K-
Transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) is a respiratory ATPase pump and is then actively transported to the intersti-
disorder resulting from inadequate or delayed clearance of fetal tium via amiloride-sensitive epithelial Na channels, thereby re-
lung fluid.1 It is commonly seen in full-term or late-preterm in- moving Na and fluid through the lymphatic and vascular sys-
fants,2 with an occurrence rate of 5.7 in 1,000 infants.1 The dis- tems.1
order is more prevalent among infants who are male, prema- Absorption of lung fluid is initiated by β-adrenergic agonists
ture, born via cesarean section without labor, or born to a such as endogenous steroids and catecholamines, which in-
mother with diabetes or asthma, and among infants who have crease during labor.5-7 Infants with TTN have lower levels of cir-
perinatal asphyxia.3,4 Clinical symptoms include tachypnea, ex- culating catecholamines than those without TTN. Ex vivo stim-
piratory grunting, nasal flaring, and retraction upon or imme- ulation of lung tissue with an exogenous β-adrenergic agonist
diately after birth. These symptoms usually resolve naturally has been shown to stimulate lung fluid absorption in both hu-
within 48-72 hours after birth, but can last up to 5 days. Treat- man and animal models.8-13 Additionally, recent in vivo and in
ment of TTN includes the administration of supplemental oxy- vitro models for pulmonary edema suggest that intravenous in-
gen and postponement of enteral nutrition.1,4 The initial symp- jection of albuterol (salbutamol), a β2-adrenergic agonist, stim-
toms of TTN are not easily differentiated from those of neonatal
respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia, and persistent pul-
Correspondence to: Shin-Yun Byun, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Busan
monary hypertension of the newborn, leading to unnecessary National University Children’s Hospital, 20 Geumo-ro, Yangsan 626-770, Korea.
imaging, blood testing, and empiric antibiotic therapy as a re- Tel: +82-51-240-5124; Fax: +82-51-242-2765; E-mail: neonate.kr@gmail.com
sult of misdiagnoses. Received: February 20, 2013; Revised: April 30, 2013; Accepted: June 3, 2013
Under normal circumstances, fetal lung fluid is rapidly •There are no financial or other issues that might lead to conflict of interest.

126 http://e-aair.org © Copyright The Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology • The Korean Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Respiratory Disease
AAIR Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn

ulates lung fluid absorption.14-16 mg/kg. Each dose was nebulized with a jet-type nebulizer (Pa-
In this context, we hypothesized that inhalational salbutamol, riBoy®, Pari-Werk, Stanberg, Germany) with continuous flow of
a β2-adrenergic agonist widely used to treat bronchopulmonary oxygen at 5 L/min and was administered over the course of 10
dysplasia in premature infants, would stimulate lung fluid ab- minutes. During the hospitalization period, the respiratory rate,
sorption in patients with TTN. The primary goal of this study heart rate, and oxygen saturation level of each patient were ob-
was to examine the efficacy of inhalational salbutamol in re- served. The target oxygen saturation level was between 90%
ducing tachypnea, oxygen treatment, and hospitalization for and 95%. Tachypnea was defined as a respiratory rate >60
infants with TTN. Our secondary goal was to assess the safety of breaths/min; and tachycardia, as a heart rate >180 beats/min.
inhalational salbutamol for the new indication of TTN. We agreed to stop treatment if any patient were to develop
tachycardia or an arrhythmia. Supportive treatment began after
MATERIALS AND METHODS the inhalational treatment was complete.
To assess the efficacy of salbutamol for TTN, we investigated
Subjects the extent and duration of tachypnea, the duration of oxygen
We conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial of in- treatment, the use of continuous positive airway pressure or a
haled salbutamol for infants hospitalized with TTN in the neo- ventilator, the duration of empiric antibiotic therapy, the time
natal intensive care unit of Dong-A Medical Center, Busan, Ko- of initiating enteral nutrition, and the duration of hospitaliza-
rea from January 2010 through December 2010. Infants with tion. To assess the safety of salbutamol, we monitored for tachy-
TTN were determined based on the following clinical symp- cardia and arrhythmias.
toms and chest radiography results: 1) at least 35 weeks gesta-
tional age; 2) respiratory distress less than 6 hours after birth Statistics
(i.e., respiratory rate greater than 60/min, grunting, nasal flar- SPSS 18.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used
ing, or retraction); and 3) typical chest radiography findings (i.e., for all analyses. Values are shown as averages ± standard devi-
fluid in minor fissures, hyperinflation, prominent vascular/ ation. Two-tailed tests were used for all statistical tests, with sta-
perihilar markings). Patients were excluded if they exhibited tistical significance defined as P≤0.05. To compare the fre-
any of the following: 1) meconium aspiration; 2) other causes of quency and proportion of categorical variables, a Chi-squared
tachypnea (e.g., neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, persis- test (Fisher’s exact test) was used. Student’s t-test was used to
tent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, pneumonia, ear- analyze differences between the averages of 2 independent
ly-onset neonatal sepsis, polycythemia, or hypoglycemia); 3) groups.
heart murmur; and 4) tachycardia (heart rate greater than 180/
min) or arrhythmia. Meconium aspiration syndrome was ex- Ethics statement
cluded when there were no abnormal chest radiography find- The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of
ings (irregular pattern of increased density throughout the the Dong-A Medical Center, Busan, Korea (IRB No. 11-36). In-
lung) and no meconium staining of the skin. Respiratory dis- formed consent was confirmed by the IRB. Consent was re-
tress syndrome was excluded when there were no reticulogran- ceived from the mother or the infant’s legal representative at
uler patterns on the chest radiograph and no surfactant thera- the time of hospital admission.
py. Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn was ex-
cluded when the level of preductal oxygen saturation was <5% RESULTS
above postductal oxygen saturation. Sepsis was excluded when
there were no perinatal risk factors, WBC >5,000/mm,3 imma- Characteristics of study patients
ture-to-total neutrophil (I:T) ratio <0.25, negative C-reactive A total of 40 infants were included in this study: 28 patients
protein, and no focal infiltration on chest radiography. Oxygen were randomized into the treatment group (salbutamol inhala-
was supplemented to maintain oxygen saturation at 90%-95%. tion); and 12, into the control group (saline inhalation). The av-
Empirical antibiotic therapy was considered prior to culture re- erage gestational age of all patients was 37.6±1.0 weeks, and
sults when there was no clinical improvement despite oxygen the birth weight was 3,124±545 g. Twenty-four of the subjects
supplementation and supportive care. were male (60.0%). Twenty-nine infants were born via C-sec-
tion (72.5%), of which 26 were born without labor (65.0%). The
Study design average Apgar score was 7.8±1.2 at 1 minute and 9.0±0.8 at 5
Infants were randomly allocated in a double-blind fashion to minute. On average, neonatal tachypnea was first detected 1.3
receive 1 dose of 2 mL nebulized 0.9% normal saline (placebo) ±2.1 hours after birth, and the initial respiration rate was 74±
or 0.1 mL salbutamol (Ventolin Respiratory Solution, salbuta- 12.8 breaths/min. There were no significant differences be-
mol sulfate 5 mg/mL; GlaxoSmithKline Inc., UK) in 2 mL of tween the treatment and control groups with regard to any of
0.9% normal saline. The standard dose of salbutamol was 0.15 the following: gestational age (37.6±1.9 weeks vs 37.5±1.0

Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2014 March;6(2):126-130. http://dx.doi.org/10.4168/aair.2014.6.2.126 http://e-aair.org 127

Kim et al. Volume 6, Number 2, March 2014

weeks), birth weight (3,090.7±591 g vs 3,203.3±432.4 g), deliv- ment group was able to begin enteral nutrition earlier; howev-
ery method (vaginal delivery vs cesarean section), 1-min Apgar er, this difference did not reach statistical significance (P=0.31).
score, 5-min Apgar score, time of tachypnea onset, initial respi- The duration of hospitalization was similar between the 2
ration rate, oxygen saturation upon hospitalization, blood gas groups (8.5±3.9 days vs 8.8±3.2 days, treatment group vs con-
test results, empiric use of antibiotics, and medical history of trol group).
mother (Table 1). A comparison of maximum respiratory rates per minute
showed no differences in the 6 hours immediately following
Effect of salbutamol treatment on tachypnea (primary treatment. In the salbutamol treatment group, maximal respira-
outcome) tion rates gradually decreased over the course of 72 hours (Fig-
The initial respiration rates were similar between the study and ure), reaching statistical significance at 72 hours (43 breaths/
control groups (73.3±12.5 breaths/min and 75.8±14.0 breaths/ min vs 57 breaths/min, treatment group vs control group;
min, respectively). The duration of tachypnea after treatment was P=0.04) (Figure).
shorter in the treatment group than in the control group (31.3±
23.7 hours vs 53.5±56.8 hours, respectively); however, this differ- Table 2. Clinical Course
ence was not significant (P=0.37). The duration of oxygen treat- Variable Treatment group, n=28 Control group, n=12 P
ment was significantly shorter in the treatment group (34.2±32.2
Period of 31.3±23.7 53.5±56.8 0.37
hours) than in the control group (77.3±64.7 hours (P<0.01).
tachypnea (h)
The use of empiric antibiotic therapy did not differ between
Oxygen duration 34.2±32.2 (n=25) 77.3±64.7 (n=12) <0.01
the 2 groups, although the duration of empiric antibiotic use (h)
was significantly shorter in the treatment group (1.5±1.6 days Antibiotics 1.5±1.6 (n=16) 3.4±3.0 (n=9) 0.04
vs 3.4±3.0 days; P=0.04) (Table 2). The time before initiating duration (day)
enteral nutrition was also shorter in the treatment group Start enteral 12.1±19.9 28.5±45.9 0.31
(12.1±19.8 hours vs 28.5±45 hours), suggesting that the treat- feeding (h)
Hospital duration 8.5±3.9 8.8±3.2 0.58
Table 1. Demographics of the Study Population (day)
Treatment group, Control group, Tachycardia (n) 0 0
Variable P
n=28 n=12 Arrhythmias (n) 0 0
Gestational age, weeks 37+6±1.9 37+5±1.0 0.80 Tachypnea, as a respiratory rate >60 breaths/min; Tachycardia, as a heart rate
Birth weight (g) 3,090.7±591 3,203.3±432 0.56 >180 beats/min.
Male (%) 17 (60.7) 7 (58.3) 0.58
Delivery method 80 Salbutamol
75
Max RR (breaths/min)

Vaginal (%) 9 (32.1) 2 (16.7) Control

70
Elective cesarean (%) 17 (60.7) 9 (75) 0.31 65
60
Emergency cesarean (%) 2 (7.1) 1 (8.3) 55
AS1 7.8±1.3 7.8±1.0 0.91 50
45
AS5 9.0±1.0 9.0±0.5 0.89
40
Without labor (%) 17 (60.7) 9 (75.0) 0.31 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 6
A
Maternal asthma (%) 0 (0) 1 (8.3) 0.30 Time from Salbutamol treatment (h)
Maternal DM (%) 1 (3.6) 0 (0) 0.70 80 Salbutamol
75
Max RR (breaths/min)

Maternal PIH (%) 2 (7.1) 0 (0) 0.49 Control

70
Maternal BB (%) 0 (0) 0 (0) 65 *P =0.04
Maternal pneumonia (%) 0 (0) 0 (0) 60
55
Onset of tachypnea (h) 1.6±2.4 0.6±1.1 0.09
50
Initial RR (breaths/min) 73.3±12.5 75.8±14.0 0.58 45
Oxygen (%) 25 (89.3) 12 (100) 0.33 40
0 6 12 18 24 36 48 72
Antibiotics (%) 16 (57.1) 9 (75.0) 0.24 B
Time from Salbutamol treatment (h)
pH 7.34±0.08 7.36±0.04 0.41
Figure. No differences in the maximum respiratory rates during the acute peri-
SpO2 94.4±4.5 93.1±6.0 0.45
od after inhalation treatment were observed between the salbutamol inhala-
Values are presented as n (%) or average±SD. AS1, Apgar score at 1 min; AS5, tion group and the control group (A). A trend toward lower maximal respiratory
Apgar score at 5 min; DM, diabetes mellitus; PIH, pregnancy-induced hypertension; rates was evident in the treatment group at later time points (B). RR, respirato-
BB, beta blocker; RR, respiration rate ry rate.

128 http://e-aair.org Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2014 March;6(2):126-130. http://dx.doi.org/10.4168/aair.2014.6.2.126

AAIR Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn

Reliability of inhaled salbutamol (secondary outcome) However, infants receiving salbutamol inhalation therapy
The predicted side effects of inhaled salbutamol were tachy- showed a shorter duration of tachypnea compared with the
cardia (heart rate >180 beats/min) and arrhythmias. No such control group. This led to shorter durations of oxygen treatment
effects were reported for either the treatment or control group and empiric antibiotic treatment in the salbutamol inhalation
(Table 2) in this study. group.
To further evaluate the efficacy of salbutamol treatment, we
DISCUSSION examined the change in post-inhalational maximum breathing
rate over time. No difference was observed between the 2
As many as 1% of all newborns experience some form of re- groups, nor was the duration of hospitalization reduced. Al-
spiratory distress. Among newborns hospitalized due to respi- though no differences in maximum respiration rates were seen
ratory distress, one-third are ultimately diagnosed as having during the acute period, a clear trend toward lower maximal re-
TTN, particularly those admitted to the neonatal intensive care spiratory rates was seen in the treatment group at later time
unit.18,19 Although the exact pathology of the condition remains points. These findings suggest that salbutamol inhalational
poorly understood, it is most commonly associated with de- therapy may be useful for the treatment of prolonged tachy-
layed absorption of fetal alveolar fluid after birth.1,17 During pnea of the newborn.19
pregnancy, some lung fluid is required for normal growth and None of the infants developed tachycardia or arrhythmias
development of the lungs. Starting 2-3 days before birth, fluid from the inhaled salbutamol treatment, consistent with what is
begins to drain from the lungs, thereby aiding the transition to seen in the treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Salbuta-
the ex utero environment. As labor begins, the pulmonary epi- mol inhalation is therefore believed to be a low-risk treatment
thelium changes from a chloride-secreting membrane to a so- for TTN patients.
dium-absorbing membrane, thus reversing the flow of lung flu- TTN tends to resolve spontaneously, and thus immediate and
id. When this occurs, Na begins to move from the alveoli into dramatic improvement in clinical indices directly after inhala-
pulmonary cells via the Na, K-ATPase pump and is then active- tion would be needed to support salbutamol for diagnosis and
ly transported into the interstitium via amiloride-sensitive epi- therapy. In our study, the duration of tachypnea tended to be
thelial Na channels, bringing with it alveolar fluid.20 This pro- shorter for patients treated with salbutamol versus those in the
cess can be stimulated by the addition of an exogenous control group. The duration of supplemental oxygen therapy
β-adrenergic agonist, leading to fluid absorption in the lungs.8,9 and empiric antibiotic treatment was also significantly shorter
In vivo models of pulmonary edema using β1- and β2-receptor in the treatment group. However, a change in clinical indices
knockout mice have shown this process to be driven primarily immediately after salbutamol inhalation treatment was not ob-
by β2-receptors,10 which is consistent with recent work showing served.
that intravenous injection of salbutamol, a β2-adrenergic ago- This work represents the first Korean study investigating sal-
nist, catalyzes lung fluid absorption.14,15 butamol inhalational treatment for infants with TTN. Specific
Considering these findings, we hypothesized that salbutamol limitations of this study include the small number of subjects
would stimulate lung fluid absorption in infants with TTN. TTN and the lack of control over the dose and frequency of salbuta-
is characterized by relatively mild symptoms that resolve natu- mol inhalation. Further research is needed to examine the ef-
rally over time; therefore, the potential risk associated with sys- fects of inhaled salbutamol on TTN in a larger number of in-
temic salbutamol therapy was not warranted. Inhalational for- fants. Greater control over the dosage and frequency of salbuta-
mulations of salbutamol should effectively reach the lung while mol inhalation are also necessary to fully characterize the effect
minimizing systemic effects. Furthermore, the safety and effi- of this treatment on TTN.
cacy of this approach are well documented, as this method is
commonly used to treat bronchopulmonary dysplasia in pre- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
mature infants.
The primary goal of our study was to observe the effects of in- This study was supported by the Dong-A University Research
halational salbutamol on the clinical symptoms of infants with Fund.
TTN. To this end, we examined the duration of tachypnea, oxy-
gen treatment, and hospitalization. No differences were ob- REFERENCES
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