Does urinary salbutamol reflect compliance with the aerosol regimen in patients with asthma?

Compliance with inhaled beta agonist therapy in a group of asthmatic patients in general practice has been monitored using a high performance thin layer chromatographic assay of salbutamol in urine. Urine salbutamol levels were lower than expected in five of 51 patients and much higher than expected in a further 11 patients. These results suggest the assay may be clinically useful for monitoring compliance of asthmatic patients with inhaled salbutamol.