Salbutamol plus beclomethasone dipropionate, but not salbutamol alone, completely prevent early and late asthmatic responses to allergen.

The effect of a week treatment with inhaled salbutamol plus placebo (S+P) vs. salbutamol combined with beclomethasone dipropionate (S+BDP) on early and late asthmatic responses to inhaled allergen was studied in ten atopic patients in a randomized, double-blind, cross-over study. All patients had previously shown a dual type response to the specific bronchial provocative test (sBPT). Each patient performed two periods of treatment for a week, with a 15 day interval between them: (a) salbutamol 0.3 mg, tid + placebo; (b) salbutamol 0.3 mg+BDP 0.2 mg, tid; at the end of each treatment period, sBPT was performed and the last treatments were given 1.5-2 h before and 3-4 h after allergen challenge. S + BDP completely prevented both early and late responses to allergen, while S + P reduced but did not completely inhibit early and late responses. The difference between the two treatments was significant for early and late asthmatic responses. Non-specific bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine was performed before each treatment period, after 6 days of treatment before sBPT and the day after sBPT at the end of the treatment period; there was only a mild increase in PD15FEV1 methacholine after 6 days of treatment with S + BDP in comparison with S + P treatment. These results suggest that salbutamol plus beclomethasone may be used effectively in the prophylaxis of early and late asthmatic reactions induced by allergen in sensitized subjects.