Studies: Asthma Drug Should Not Be Used By Itself

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STUDIES: ASTHMA DRUG SHOULD NOT BE USED BY ITSELFA drug widely used by itself to treat asthma may actually worsensymptoms if not taken with other drugs, according to University ofCalifornia, San Francisco researchers.Salmeterol xinafoate, sold as Serevent, is from a class known aslong-acting beta-agonists. It relieves asthma symptoms by dilating theairway and is generally recommended for use with inhaled steroids. Intheir study, the researchers wanted to determine the effectiveness ofsalmeterol xinafoate in patients with asthma as a replacement for theinhaled corticosteroids.In a study of 164 patients with mild to moderate asthma, reported in theMay 23 Journal of the American Medical Association, C. Lazarus,MD and colleagues found that patients using only Serevent had moreasthma attacks and more inflammation than those using only an inhaledsteroid. A second study of 175 patients in the same journal found thatuse of Serevent allowed patients with persistent asthma to cut theirsteroid doses in half without worsening the disease. But asthma controldeteriorated significantly when they stopped using the steroidsaltogether.For more information, visit the JAMA Web site at<http://jama.ama-assn.org/>http://jama.ama-assn.org.