Nebulized bronchodilators and Pulmicort in therapy of severe exacerbation of bronchial asthma

Abstract

The goals of the study were to investigate efficacy and safety of nebulized bronchodilators and suspension of Pulmicort (SP) in therapy of severe exacerbation of bronchial asthma (BA). The study involved 75 patients divided into 2 groups: the 1^st group with severe BA exacerbation (45 patients, 15 males, the mean age 56±12 yrs) and the 2^nd group with moderate BA exacerbation (30 patients, 12 males, the mean age 50±14 yrs). The patients received nebulized bronchodilators and SP 2 to 8 mg daily during 8 to 14 days.
The nebulized therapy with SP resulted in improvement of clinical signs to the 5^th-7^th day (p=0.04), reduction in the need of short-acting β₂-agonists 4-5 times (p<0.05), significant improvement of lung functional parameters (FEV₁ increased from 35.6±5.1 to 62.3±2.6% in the 1^st group and from 34.5±2.3 to 75.4±2.4% in the 2^nd group, p<0.05). Sa0₂ grew by 4.66%, p = 0.04. The steroid-dependent BA patients decreased doses of corticosteroids from 15.4 to 6.2 mg daily. The nebulized therapy did not cause considerable adverse events, calcium metabolism was not disturbed. Thus, the nebulized therapy with bronchodilators and S P in severe exacerbation of BA is highly effective and safe and can be considered as an alternative for systemic corticosteroids.