A study published in the Journal of the Formosan Medical Association found that bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) ventilation is safe for improving respiratory rate and oxygenation in asthmatic children.

Additional treatment may be necessary for pediatric patients with severe acute asthma exacerbation to prevent respiratory failure, yet there is a paucity of data on clinical effect of noninvasive ventilation, specifically BiPAP, in this population. In this retrospective study, researchers reviewed records for patients with severe asthma attacks who were admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit between January 2012 and February 2017 (N=46).

Patients were grouped according to whether BiPAP was used (n=25) or was not used (n=21). Researchers collected and analyzed clinical parameters (age at admission, body weight, clinical symptoms, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen demand, oxygen saturation, and partial pressure of carbon dioxide in serum) from medical records for all patients in the study.