Asthma: Commonly Used Medication Shows No Clear Benefits in Children

There are no clear benefits to using long-acting beta2-agonists (LABAs) for treatment of asthma in children, a new study concludes. In an overview of recent Cochrane reviews, Child Health Field researchers report that there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest the drugs, which are recommended to relieve the symptoms of asthma, offer any additional benefit to conventional preventative medications.

LABAs such as salmeterol and formoterol can reduce the symptoms of asthma for periods of up to 12 hours and are often given to relax the airways overnight or after exercise. Currently, LABAs are recommended as add-on therapies to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), which are taken on a daily basis to help control symptoms over a longer term. Since LABAs have previously been shown to increase the risk of life-threatening adverse effects in adults when used as the only drug (monotherapy), they are not recommended as the main treatment agent in asthma in any age groups.

Now researchers say that although giving LABAs to children can improve lung function, their use does not generally provide any further benefit over regular ICS therapy. “We found no evidence to suggest that LABA should be used alone or in combination with ICS in the majority of young asthma sufferers. ICS should remain the therapy of choice,” says Amy Plint, who led the study at the University of Ottawa in Canada.

The overview included four previous reviews of trials in children above the age of four. Together, the trials showed that ICS in combination with LABAs significantly improved lung function compared to ICS combined with placebos. LABAs did not, however, reduce severity of asthma symptoms as measured by hospital admissions or the need for steroid medication.

The researchers say more long-term trials are needed to establish the effectiveness of LABAs in children. However, they think that the drugs may improve lung function in the most severe cases. “We should not rule out combination therapy as a treatment option in children with poorly controlled asthma despite compliance with moderate dose ICS agents,” says Plint.

Media Contact

Jennifer Beal alfa

All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine

This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.

Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors