An article appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine (July 15, 1997 vol. 127 no. 2 142-147) cites research done at Cornell and Stanford universities concluding that asthma inhalers that contain the drugs salmeterol or formoterol may be responsible for four out of five asthma-related deaths in the United States. The research was a review of 19 clinical trials that involved 33,826 patients. The meta-analysis concluded that patients using the inhalers were 3.5 time more likely to die and 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalized than those using a placebo.
The inhalers, while relieving asthma symptoms, also manage to increase overall inflammation and sensitivity in the airways. Death from asthma is rare, about 5,000 per year. But these inhalers do increase the chance of death. Even though they offer temporary relief, they do tend to make the overall condition worse.
