Common Inhaler May Increase Risk Of Asthma Attacks In Small Group

According to a news release from the University of Dundee, a common asthma inhaler may increase risk of asthma attacks in a small group of children.

Researchers found that a gene change may result in certain children not benefiting from the medication Salbutamol (albuterol) as much as children without the gene change. Patients with the gene change called the Arg16 variant did not receive as much benefit from Salbutamol.

If you have one copy of the Arg16 variant you are 30% more likely to have an asthma attack than someone without the gene variant and if you have a double copy you are 50% more likely not to respond to Salbutamol.

Lead author Professor Somnath Mukhopadhyay of Brighton & Sussex Medical School said: 'Do not stop using your inhaler or change the way you use the inhalers. Salbutamol via the blue inhaler is effective 'reliever' treatment in most children but it is common experience among doctors that a proportion of children do not seem to respond to this medicine as well as others.'

'Some of these children could progress to develop asthma attacks with wheeze and cough that leads to days off school, visits to GPs, courses of oral steroids, and often, hospital admissions, despite the use of concurrent controller medication.'

'Our study shows that common gene changes may predict the children with asthma who will have a worsening of symptoms with this commonly used medicine. We need to find out if alternative reliever medication will provide better asthma control in these children. Our work does not alter current consensus guidelines for the treatment of asthma.It points towards the need for further research in this area.'

Research such as this could be the beginning of personalized medical treatment where your genetic information could be used to determine what the best treatment for you is.

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