There is No Evidence For or Against the Use of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs to Reduce the Clinical Duration of Kennel Cough (Infectious Tracheobronchitis).

a Knowledge Summary by

Marc A. C. Silpa BVM&S MRCVS^*

^*Corresponding Author (m.a.c.silpa@gmail.com)

Question

In [canines], does the use of [NSAIDs] versus [no treatment] reduce the [clinical duration of canine infectious tracheobronchitis (kennel cough)]?

Clinical scenario

Mr. Smith brought his two year old male Labrador Retriever, “Winston”, to your clinic for a sudden onset hacking cough. Winston was housed in a kennel last week while the owners were on holiday. On clinical exam, the dog coughs when the trachea is manipulated, but is well otherwise. You suspect “Winston” has infectious tracheobronchitis. You, keeping aware of the latest EBVM publications, know antibiosis is not warranted in this case. But you wonder if a few doses of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug would reduce the time that it takes for “Winston’s” cough to resolve.

The evidence

There are no research studies, case studies, or epidemiological surveys published on the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for the treatment of canine infectious tracheobronchitis. No judgement can be made whether the use of NSAIDs is justified. Further research is needed.

Appraisal, application and reflection

There are no research studies, case studies, or epidemiological surveys published on the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for the treatment of canine infectious tracheobronchitis. No judgement can be made whether the use of NSAIDs is justified. Further research is needed.

Methodology Section

Search Strategy
Databases searched and dates covered:	Pubmed accessed via the NCBI website 1900 – 2015, CAB Abstracts on the OVID platform 1973 – 2015 week 31
Search terms:	(Dog OR dogs OR canine* OR canis OR pup*) AND ((Inflamm* AND (bronchi OR trachea)) OR tracheobronchitis OR ITB OR rhinotracheitis OR "kennel cough" OR bronchitis OR tracheitis OR laryngitis OR bordetellosis OR bordetella) AND (NSAID OR NSAIDs OR anti-inflammatory OR "anti inflammatory" OR non-steroidal OR "non steroidal" OR steroid*)
Dates searches performed:	15 August 2015

Exclusion / Inclusion Criteria
Exclusion:	Non English language, Non-systematic reviews or conference papers.
Inclusion:	Systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, case studies, meta-analyses and epidemiological surveys.

Search Outcome
Database	Number of results	Excluded – study design	Excluded – non- English language publication	Excluded – did not answer PICO question	Total relevant papers
NCBI PubMed	66	0	5	61	0
CAB Abstracts	9	2	0	7	0
Total relevant papers when duplicates removed					0