Author/Authors :
Velayati, Ashraf Department of Educational Management - Economics and Policy - School of Medical Education - Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences , Hosseini, Seyed Alireza Food and Drug Research Center - Food and Drug Organization , Sari, Ali Akbari Department of Health Management and Economics - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Mohtasham, Farideh Knowledge Utilization Research Center - Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Ghanei, Mostafa Chemical Injuries Research Center - Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences , Yaghoubi, Mohsen Department of Community Medicine - School of Medicine - Clinical Knowledge Management Unit - Iran University of Medical Sciences , Majdzadeh, Reza Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics - School of Public Health- Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran
Abstract :
Background: Formoterol and salmeterol are two long-acting β2-agonists given by inhalation, with bronchodilating eff ects lasting
for at least 12 h after a single administration. Formoterol has a faster onset of action compared with salmeterol. Th e aim of this
study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on the data published from previous review in order to calculate pooled
estimates of eff ectiveness and safety assessment of formoterol and salmeterol in treatment of patients with asthma. Materials and
Methods: In this study, we conducted an electronic search for medical citation databases including Cochrane, PubMed, Scopus,
PsycInfo, and IranMedex. Besides manual search of the databases that record randomized clinical trials, conference proceedings,
and journals related to asthma were included. Studies were evaluated by two independent people based on inclusion and exclusion
criteria, and the common outcomes of studies were entered into the RevMan 5.0.1 software, after evaluation of studies and extraction
of data from them; and in cases where there were homogeneous studies, meta-analysis was performed, and for heterogeneous studies,
the results were reported qualitatively. Results: Of the 1539 studies initially found, 13 were included in the study. According to the
meta-analysis conducted, no signifi cant diff erence was found between the inhalation of formoterol 12 μg and salmeterol 50 μg in the
two outcomes of mean forced expiratory volume 1 s (FEV1), 12 h after inhalation of medication and Borg score (A frequently used
scale for quantifying breathlessness) after inhalation of medication. In addition, salmeterol was more eff ective than formoterol in
the two outcomes of percent decrease in FEV1 after inhalation of methacholine and the number of days without an attack. Since the
two outcomes of FEV1 30-60 min after inhalation of medication and morning peak expiratory fl ow after inhalation of medication
were heterogeneous, they had no meta-analysis capabilities, and its results were reported qualitatively. Conclusion: Th e data from
included studies shows that, more effi cacy has been achieved with Salmeterol, especially in some outcomes such as the percent
decrease in FEV1 after inhalation of Methacholine, and the number of days without an attack; and therefore, the administration of
Salmeterol seems to be benefi cial for patients, compared with Formoterol.
