Is driving gas flow rate clinically important for nebulizer therapy?

Ten patients with stable asthma were studied to see whether the flow rate used to drive a nebulizer was clinically important. Each received 1 mg of salbutamol in 2 ml of physiological saline via a Sandoz 'Lifeline' nebulizer driven by piped oxygen at 8, 6 and 4 litres/min on separate randomly allocated occasions. Although the time for nebulization was significantly longer as flow rate was reduced, there was no significant difference in the bronchodilator response.