Inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate in acute infections of the respiratory tract.

100 patients with acute tracheitis, tracheobronchitis or bronchitis were randomly allocated to receive inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) 100 micrograms qds or placebo as an adjunct to oral antihistamine and a tetracycline antibiotic. 2 patients were withdrawn from analysis, leaving 49 patients in each group. There was no evidence that inhaled BDP conferred any benefit or detriment on the progress of the condition as assessed by daily symptom scores and weekly clinic visits for up to 2 weeks. The same conclusion maintains when the patients were subdivided into two grades of severity as assessed by the physician when the patient first presented. Inhaled BDP would seem to have no role in the inflammatory process associated with those acute infections of presumed viral origins.