SABA (albuterol, levalbuterol, etc/)
- The beta agonist is being more frequently used as a rescue inhaler as opposed to a maintenance medication.
- If a patient is using their SABA more than 2 days per week, it is likely a secondary to poor control and may lead to poor outcomes.
- Scheduled use of SABA is not recommended.
- The concern over cardiac toxicity is not as likely as once thought. It was thought that the tachycardia associated with their use could be damaging to the myocardium . However, not treating asthma and its hypoxia aggressively is usually more dangerous than the mild beta agonist-induced tachycardia.
- It is still important to monitor cardiac function when administering repeated doses of a beta agonist. [11]
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