Asthma Drug May Actually Boost Risk Of Deadly Attacks, Cause Heart Trouble

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Asthma

Drug May Actually Boost Risk Of Deadly Attacks, Cause Heart Trouble

June 22, 2004

(USA

TODAY) -- One of the most commonly prescribed medicines to treat America's 16

million asthmatics may actually make asthma worse and contribute to heart

problems, two studies find.

Salpeter

of Stanford University says

daily doses of beta-agonists may increase the risk of a fatal asthma attack

and more than doubles the risk of cardiac events such as heart attacks.

Beta-agonists help relax muscles in the

lungs when they spasm during an asthma attack. They are administered in two

ways: as a fast-acting " rescue " drug at the beginning of an attack

and in a longer-acting form designed to prevent attacks. The latter is

frequently given in combination with inhaled steroids, as both drugs help

prevent asthma attacks.

Salpeter and

her team reviewed studies from 1966 to 2003 of asthmatics taking

beta-agonists. They found that patients who took the drug daily developed a

tolerance and had more inflammation in their lungs than those not taking the

drug at all, making them more susceptible to a potentially deadly attack.

" People shouldn't be taking these smooth muscle relaxants long term, " Salpeter says. However, the National Institutes of Health

treatment guidelines for those with moderate asthma call for the use of

long-acting beta-agonists in combination with inhaled corticosteroids.

The team's second study was on the effects

of beta-agonists on the heart. The researchers found that asthma patients who

took beta-agonists were more than two times more likely to have

cardiovascular events such as congestive heart failure, heart attacks and

sudden death.

Beta-agonists increase heart rate and

decrease essential levels of potassium, putting the heart at greater risk of

attack or failure, according to the study.

Meyer of the Food and Drug

Administration's Office of Drug Evaluation disagrees. He says the FDA

believes that, taken as directed, beta-agonists are safe and effective. Other

studies suggest a faint possibility that regular use of beta-agonists might

cause deaths or near-deaths among asthmatics, but none has shown a clear

statistical significance, he says.

Blaiss,

president of the American College of

Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, also says there doesn't seem to be evidence

of problems when beta-agonists are used properly.

One tantalizing possibility is evidence that

a small portion of the population has a slight genetic difference that makes

them more susceptible to problems when they take beta-agonists, Meyer says,

but more data are needed.

The studies appear in two journals: The

ls of Internal Medicine and Chest.

Copyright 2004 USA TODAY,

a division of Gannett Co. Inc.