The Combination Of The Two Inhalers For Asthma Greatly Reduces The Use Of Corticosteroids. Part 1 of 3

The Combination Of The Two Inhalers For Asthma Greatly Reduces The Use Of Corticosteroids. Asthma patients typically use two inhaled drugs – one a fast-acting “rescue inhaler” to shoot attacks and another long-lasting one to anticipate them. However, combining both in one inhaler may be best for some patients, two new studies suggest. Patients with deliberate to severe asthma who used a combination inhaler had fewer attacks than those on two separate inhalers, researchers report. Both studies tested the so-called SMART (single maintenance and reliever therapy) protocol. “The SMART discipline was more effective as a treatment for asthma than the conventional treatment, where you just use a inhaler at a fixed maintenance dose and a short-acting inhaler for the relief of symptoms,” said Dr Richard Beasley, vice-president of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand in Wellington and lead researcher of one of the studies.

These drugs are a combination of a corticosteroid (such as budesonide or fluticasone) and a long-acting beta-2 agonist (such as salmeterol or formoterol) and are sold under various disgrace names including Seretide, Symbicort and Advair. In asthma, treatment increases as the severity of the condition does. So, this party therapy isn’t the first choice.

When the asthma is difficult to control with other methods, “we are now recommending the SMART regime. You treat the patients according to their needs. This is certainly not what you start them on – it is something you would use on referee to severe patients”.

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