Feather versus non-feather bedding for asthma (Cochrane Review)

Campbell F, Jones K, Gibson P

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A substantive amendment to this systematic review was last made on 23 June 2000. Cochrane reviews are regularly checked and updated if necessary.
Background: Two recent epidemiological studies have reported that children using non-feather pillows suffered from more frequent episodes of wheeze than those using feather pillows
Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of using feather bedding in the control of asthma symptoms.
Search strategy: The Cochrane Airways Group asthma clinical trials register, derived from MEDLINE, EMBASE and hand searching of major journals, was searched using the terms: feather OR bed* OR linen* OR pillow
Selection criteria: Only randomised or controlled clinical trials were to be included.
Data collection and analysis: No trials met the inclusion criteria for the review.
Main results: 126 abstracts were identified. Ten of these were identified as possibly meeting the entry criteria, but on review of the full paper not were suitable. The reasons for exclusion were: not a randomised trial (n=6); allocation of bedding type combined with another intervention (n=4).
Reviewers' conclusions: Whilst recent epidemiological studies suggest that feather bedding is associated with less frequent wheeze than man-made fibre fillings, the evidence currently available is insufficient to assess the clinical benefits of feather bedding in the management of asthma.
Citation: Campbell F, Jones K, Gibson P. Feather versus non-feather bedding for asthma (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 3, 2003. Oxford: Update Software.

This is an abstract of a regularly updated, systematic review prepared and maintained by the Cochrane Collaboration. The full text of the review is available in The Cochrane Library (ISSN 1464-780X).
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File Reference: AB002154.htm