Beta Blocker Therapy in Mild to Moderate Asthmatics ANDA1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of any steroid sparing effect of beta blocker therapy on airway hyper-responsiveness in stable, mild to moderate, asthmatics
IRAS ID
82778
Contact name
Brian Lipworth
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Dundee
Eudract number
2011-002512-89
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Research summary
Beta blockers are a common group of medications largely used in patients with heart disease. They are currently avoided in asthma because of the risk of worsening of asthma symptoms. Indeed they are the opposite of beta agonists (e.g. salbutamol) which are used to treat the symptoms of asthma - mainly airway narrowing. There have been recent studies that have shown that longer term use of beta blockers in asthmatics may actually be beneficial by reducing airway inflammation which is important when trying to treat asthma and gain control of symptoms. Studies also suggest that long term beta blocker use can lead to improvements in how much people respond to their reliever therapy (by opening the narrowed airways) through changes to airway receptors by the beta blockers. We have already shown that giving a single dose of beta blocker to asthmatics is safe and any worsening on their breathing tests can be reversed completely by giving usual reliever treatment. We are currently studying the effect of long term beta blocker therapy in asthmatics already taking preventer (inhaled steroid) treatment to see if there are additional benefits of the beta blocker on the airways. In this study we wish to go a step further to find out if there is a difference in the airways by giving beta blockers to asthmatics whether or not they are on inhaled steroid (preventer) treatment. By answering these questions we hope to find out whether long term beta blockers could be an additional beneficial therapy for asthma control and symptoms.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 2
REC reference
11/ES/0031
Date of REC Opinion
23 Nov 2011
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion