COMPARISON OF THE BRONCHODILATOR EFFECT OF INHALED SHORT-ACTING AND LONG-ACTING BETA(2)-AGONISTS IN CHILDREN WITH BRONCHIAL-ASTHMA A RANDOMIZED TRIAL

Objective: This study compared the bronchodilator effects of Short-act ing (salbutamol and procaterol) and long-acting (salmeterol and formot erol) beta(2)-agonists in children with bronchial asthma. Patients: Tw enty-seven (Is male, 9 female) children with bronchial asthma were enr olled in the study. Drugs were administered randomly in the morning fo r 5 days as follows: 1 single dose of two short-acting beta(2)-agonist s, salbutamol 200 mu g and procaterol 20 mu g, and two long-acting bet a(2)-agonists salmeterol 50 mu g and formoterol 24 mu g, and placebo. Results: All beta(2)-agonists demonstrated a significantly higher bron chodilator effect than that observed with placebo. This effect appeare d to be due to the forced expiratory flows. Formoterol produced a high er bronchodilator effect than salbutamol, and salmeterol showed a bron chodilator effect comparable with salbutamol at 30 minutes but higher than salbutamol after 3 hours. Conclusion: Our study confirmed the eff icacy of the bronchodilator effects of the beta(2)-agonists. Salmetero l and formoterol, in particular, produced an improvement in respirator y function with a significant increase in forced expiratory flows in c hildren with bronchial asthma.