Many parents usually sit in a steamy bathroom with their kids to try to treat croup. It's a very common childhood illness. But, a new study finds that humidity doesn't actually help in treating the most common kind of croup. 7's Frances Rivera has more.
Two-year old Kyan Greer recently had croup, a viral infection in the airway and voice box that comes with that awful barking cough.
So Kyan's mom Stephanie did what most parents would do. "I kind of just turned on everything and sat by the shower. And it did get humid in there but I didn't think it was doing too much for him," she says.
It probably wasn't, according to a new study.
Dennis Scolnik says, "Our study looked into the effect of different kinds of humidity in the treatment of croup."
Researchers studied 140 children, ages three months to ten years, who came to the emergency department with moderate to severe cases of croup. The study lasted three years.
Scolnik says, "In this particular group of patients, humidity had no positive effect in treating their croup symptoms."
Using masks like this, the researchers tried specifically sized water particles, and different humidity levels, in hopes of reaching the children's voice boxes with moisture.
"Humidity in any form, however well you've prepared it, however exactly you're trying to deliver it to the area that's affected by croup, didn't have an effect," says Scolnik.
Croup is a virus that is often caused by the parainfluenza virus.
So, like many viral infections, it just needs to run its course.
This study is in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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