Shedding light on role of {beta}2 agonists in deaths from asthma

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7483.0

BMJ 2005;330 (15 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7483.0

Shedding light on role of ${beta}$ ₂ agonists in deaths from asthma

Use of inhaled long acting ${beta}$ ₂ agonists in patients with asthmadoes not significantly affect mortality in these patients, butshort acting ${beta}$ ₂ agonists are associated with increased mortality.In a case-control study, Anderson and colleagues (p 117) assessed532 patients who died from asthma and 532 matched controls.The risk of death in patients who were treated with short acting ${beta}$ ₂ agonists was more than double that in controls. In additionto an adverse effect of the drug itself, the authors offer severalalternative explanations.

Credit: SATURN STILLS/SPL

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BMJ 2005 330: 117. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]