Effect of rock salt aerosol therapy on quality of life of patients with pneumoconiosis: A multicenter, randomized, double-blind clinical trial

This study aimed to explore the impact of rock salt aerosol therapy on the quality of life in pneumoconiosis patients. It may provide new treatment method for the comprehensive control of pneumoconiosis. A total of 452 subjects from 6 hospitals were divided based on the multi-level hierarchical random design. The patients in the treatment group received conventional comprehensive treatment + rock salt aerosol therapy. The baseline data were collected, including gender, age, age of dust exposure, stage and COPD combination. Cough, expectoration and dyspnea levels were valuated. Both of the two methods exhibited good curative effect following time extension. Rock salt aerosol therapy showed more significant effect compared with routine method. The clinical symptom tends to be stable after two weeks treatment of rock salt aerosol therapy. The curative effect increases with the extension of treatment time. 2-4 weeks for one course of treatment can improve the curative effect. Rock salt aerosol therapy can effectively improve the quality of life of pneumoconiosis patients. It is a good treatment and rehabilitation method for the prevention and treatment of pneumoconiosis, thus is worthy of clinical application.