Widely used asthma medicines like as Advair and Serevent increase the risk of hospitalization and death in asthma patients who use them as compared to placebos, according to a new review of 19 studies done in this area.
The analysis, conducted by Stanford researchers also found that the long-acting bronchodilators pose increased risk in a large number of people. "What we have here is a drug that increases the number of people who will die from the disease it is treating," said lead researcher Shelley Salpeter of Stanford University. "The long-acting bronchodilators can help reduce symptoms for many people, but we think the price in terms of serious side effects and deaths is unacceptable."
The new analysis, which is published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, raises questions on whether is is time to pull these drugs out of the market. "Black box warnings on the labeling for these agents clearly outline the increased risk for asthma-related deaths associated with their use, but these warnings have not changed prescribing practices of physicians," the authors said.
The main way in which long-acting beta-agonist bronchodilators work is by relaxing airway muscles and thus helping in easy breathing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already put strict warnings on these drugs and had warned that they could result in death last year itself.
In the current study of 34,000 participants, the researchers found that the drugs increase risk of hospitalizations by 2.6 times and death by 1.8 times. "The take-home message is that long-acting beta-agonists worsen asthma control and increase the risk for moderate asthma exacerbations, life-threatening asthma exacerbations and asthma deaths," Salpeter concluded.
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# posted by Network @ 4:18 PM
