Inhaler 'can worsen asthma for children'

Published on Tuesday 6 October 2009 20:02

HUNDREDS of thousands of asthmatic children may be getting little or no benefit from the most commonly used inhaler in the UK.

Researchers claim daily use of salbutamol may fail to prevent asthma attacks in children who have a genetic mutation.

More than 100,000 youngsters have a double copy of a gene that makes them more than 30 per cent more likely to suffer asthma attacks if they take salbutamol daily, compared with those without the gene.

Even those with a single copy of the gene – some 350,000 to 400,000 British children – have an increased risk of asthma attacks if they use the inhaler.

But the researchers said that, while the study was important, there was no need for youngsters to switch inhalers until more research had been carried out.

Salbutamol is often referred to as the "blue" inhaler or known by the brand name Ventolin.

Professor Somnath Mukhopadhyay, from Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who worked on the study, said poorly controlled asthma was a major problem in young sufferers, leading to in-patient hospital stays, frequent visits to GPs and school absences.

He said the research had highlighted a problem with children who had a double copy of the gene, while 35 to 40 per cent more young asthma sufferers with a single copy were suffering a "degree of interference".

Prof Mukhopadhyay said it might be possible in the future to screen youngsters for the gene change via a simple saliva test

and that other reliever inhalers were available that worked on different biological pathways.

Rather than simply giving patients extra treatments, a different type of drug regimen may improve treatment, he said.

Professor Colin Palmer, from the University of Dundee, who also worked on the study, said it had shown that people with the genetic variant were less sensitive to salbutamol the more frequently it was used.

He said: "When people are taking this drug at least once a day and they have this change in the receptor, they do not seem to be getting the benefit."

Professor Neil Barnes, of the British Lung Foundation, said: "This study is potentially significant but requires considerable further investigation. Deaths and admissions to hospital from asthma have fallen This would strongly suggest that this group of drugs are safe and effective as used by UK doctors."

Dr Elaine Vickers, research relations manager at Asthma UK, said: "The research did not look at whether a different sort of reliever asthma treatment would be more appropriate for this group of children, so we don't yet know whether they should be given a different treatment.

"We would urge parents to keep track of how often their child uses their reliever inhalers and, if they use them more than three times a week, to take them to see their doctor or asthma nurse to have their symptoms reviewed."