Featured Review: How safe is it to add regular formoterol to inhaled corticosteroid for adults or children with asthma?

Asthma is a disease of the lungs, symptoms include wheezing, breathlessness, and chest tightness.Two main features of asthma are underlying inflammation and bronchoconstriction (tightening of the muscles around small tubes in the lungs). The inflammation can be treated with daily steroid inhalers. The bronchoconstriction can be treated with a beta2-agonist to relax the muscles. This opens up the airways and makes it easier to breathe. Beta2-agonists can be used two ways: to provide relief from symptoms of chest tightness ( ' short-acting beta2-agonists ' ) and to help prevent symptoms from occurring ( ' long-acting beta2-agonists ' , or LABAs).When asthma is not controlled by daily low-dose ICS, many asthma guidelines recommend additional daily LABA, such as formoterol. The author team are confident that LABA improves lung function, quality of life, and worsening symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and chest tightness. However, there is long-standing controversy about how safe these drugs are for people with asthma. The review authors wanted to explore this by focusing on rare and serious harms. These are defined as events that are life-threatening, require admission to hospital or by making stays in hospital longer, or result in persistent or significant disability/incapacity or a birth defect.The review author team analysed data from 29 studies in 35,751 adults and 10 studies in 4,035 children aged up to 17 years.Importantly, almost all trials were spon...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news