A study of Nigella sativa oil in the management of wheeze associated lower respiratory tract illness in children

Nigella sativa seeds and its oil had been widely used in traditional medicine (particularly in Unani Medicine) for a wide variety of illnesses including bronchial asthma in adults. The adjuvant effect of N. sativa oil in patients of bronchial asthma has already been reported but, no work had yet been done in very common disease of children called wheeze associated lower respiratory tract illness (wheeze associated LRTI). So in the present study 84 patients of wheeze associated LRTI were investigated for any beneficial role of N. sativa oil in this condition. Control group (41) and test group (43), were administered with Standard treatment and N. sativa oil along with standard treatment in dose of 0.1 ml/kg/day, respectively. Patients were assessed on day 0 and reassessed on 3rd, 7th, 10th and 14th day of treatment by using pulmonary index (PI) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). The PI was reduced more in test group as compared to control group in all days of treatment and difference was statistically significant on 3rd day (P < 0.05). The inter-group comparison on 3rd, 7th, 10th and 14th day also showed significant reduction in PI of test group compared to control group (P < 0.001). PEFR showed higher improvement in test group compared to control group in all days of treatment, although, here the difference was statistically insignificant (P > 0.05). In inter-group comparison, the improvement in PEFR was observed only till 7th day of treatment in the control group but it was unto 14th day of treatment in the test group (P < 0.0001).