Inhaled Steroids as a Booster for Salbutamol-Induced Bronchodilation?

The mainstay of asthma treatment is the beta-2-mimetic salbutamol (or albuterol) which is also first line in critical care. Researchers have previously observed that inhaled glucocorticosteroids potentiated salbutamol-induced airway vascular smooth muscle relaxation.

As a consequence of these observations Eliana S. et al. performed a small double-blind pilot study on fifteen patients clinical obstructive asthma. The influence of inhaled steroids (mometasone) compared to placebo 30min before inhalation of salbutamol was measured by looking at the change in FEV1 (ΔFEV1) for airway smooth muscle and the airway blood flow (ΔQaw) for airway vascular smooth muscle within 15 min after drug inhalation.

This pilot study showed that in adult patients with obstructive asthma with airflow obstruction, a single standard dose of an inhaled steroid can acutely increase the FEV1 response to a standard dose of inhaled salbutamol... especially when administered 30min before.

This might become a helpful finding in the future! We'll keep the eyes open!


Eliana S. et al. Chest. 2015;147(4):1037-1042.

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