Archive for the 'Airway' Category

In contrast to reports by Sears et al and Taylor et al, recent reports by Drazen et al and Chapman et al did not show deleterious effects of regular use of albuterol on asthma control when compared to as-needed use over either a 4- or 16-week treatment period. It has been suggested however, that results […]

If worsening bronchial responsiveness was masked by the bronchodilating properties of salmeterol, an increase in hyperresponsiveness would be expected during the posttreatment period. In this study, mean levels of bronchial responsiveness to methacholine remained above baseline levels during the posttreatment period, providing no evidence for a rebound increase in bronchial hyperresponsiveness after cessation of salmeterol […]

This study has shown that regular, long-term use of salmeterol aerosol, 42 ^g twice daily, in patients with asthma results in sustained improvements in pulmonary function and symptom control with no evidence of an increase in bronchial hyperresponsiveness during or following treatment. The treatment groups were similar with respect to the number of patients having […]

Exacerbations of Asthma The treatments were not significantly different with respect to the total number of subjects experiencing asthma exacerbations, defined as asthma symptoms requiring treatment other than albuterol MDI and the blinded study drug. During treatment, 25 subjects (12%) in the salmeterol group reported 31 exacerbations, and 33 subjects (16%) in the placebo group […]

Pulmonary Function Tests Morning predose FEV1 values were increased significantly over baseline in the salmeterol group at all treatment assessments when compared to the placebo group. With salmeterol, increases of 0.21, 0.23, 0.25, 0.23, 0.23, and 0.26 L above baseline were observed after weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24, respectively, when compared to […]

Significantly fewer patients withdrew from the salmeterol group than from the placebo group (34 vs 53 patients, respectively; p = 0.03). Reasons for withdrawal included lack of efficacy (salmeterol group, 5 patients; placebo group, 8 patients), adverse event (salmeterol group, 1 patient; placebo group, 4 patients), and failure to return (sal-meterol group, 4 patients; placebo […]

Prior to challenge testing, baseline pulmonary function levels were determined using the highest FEV1 of three efforts. Patients then inhaled five breaths of saline solution, and FEV1 was assessed 3 min after the last inhalation. Incremental concentrations of methacholine were administered in the same manner using a concentration range of 0.025 to 75.0 mg/mL. Challenges […]