"Asthma is a common respiratory condition, affecting hundreds of millions of people around the world. Beta-agonists have been used for over a century to reduce wheezing in asthma, by relieving smooth muscle contraction in the airways. However, two epidemics of increased asthma deaths have been linked to the use of short-acting beta-agonists (isoprenaline forte in the 1960s and fenoterol in the 1980s).
The two currently available inhaled long-acting beta2-agonists used in asthma are regular salmeterol and formoterol, and concerns remain about their safety. Two large surveillance studies (SMART and SNS) reported an increased risk of death from asthma with regular use of salmeterol in adults with asthma in comparison to placebo and regular salbutamol, respectively. Both showed a roughly three-fold increase in deaths from asthma, which was statistically significant in SMART but not in SNS."
Source: This is from the reprint of a Cochrane review, prepared and maintained by The Cochrane Collaboration and published in The Cochrane Library
2010, Issue 1
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