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Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1999;153:430.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I would like to call attention to our recent updated meta-analysis of bronchodilators in bronchiolitis. The original meta-analysis of this topic was published in this journal in 1996.¹ Our current paper can be found in the Cochrane Library.² By incorporating new studies of inpatient treatment with bronchodilators that did not show a benefit, our original lukewarm endorsement of the use of these agents is now even weaker.

Despite the short-term clinical improvement attributed to bronchodilators, our updated meta-analysis suggests that bronchodilators cannot be recommended for routine management of infants with first episodes of wheezing at this time, given the uncertain benefit and high costs of bronchodilator treatment. In addition, the use of bronchodilators in hospitalized patients had no effect on the duration of hospitalization. Further treatment trials using placebo controls, stricter study enrollment criteria, and better outcome measures are needed to ascertain the role of bronchodilators in the management of . . . [Full Text of this Article]