EFFICACY OF SALMETEROL IN THE TREATMENT OF CHILDHOOD ASTHMA

The aim of the clinical study reported here was to investigate the eff icacy of salmeterol, a new long-acting selective beta(2)-agonist, in p atients with bronchial asthma. Twenty-four children with moderate asth ma were enrolled in the longitudinal study, consisting of a run-in per iod of 2 weeks followed by a treatment period of 4 weeks. Maintenance treatment consisted of inhaled corticosteroid and disodium cromoglycat e, or both, at the same daily dose throughout the study. During the ru n-in period, the patients continued to inhale salbutamol when needed a nd some of them (37%) also received theophylline. They were subsequent ly treated with salmeterol 50 mu g twice daily and pm salbutamol for 4 weeks. Efficacy was evaluated using symptom scores and pulmonary func tion tests including forced vital capacity parameters, pulmonary volum es, airway resistance and specific airway conductance that were measur ed sensitively by a whole body plethysmograph. As a result, salmeterol produced significant improvement in morning and evening peak expirato ry flow rates, vital capacity, airway resistance, conductance and asth ma symptoms versus salbutamol and theophylline. Adverse reactions were judged to be mild and few.