Tariq Tahir Butt, Muhammad Saeed Qureshi, Mahwish Arooj, Arif Malik, Abdul Manan, Mahmood Husain Qazi.
A Comparative study of Metabolic and Antioxidative Response of Salbutamol Therapy in Asthmatic and Non Asthmatic Athletes in Punjab.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;7(4):979-81.

Place of study: Punjab Institute of Cardiology, OPD and inpatient departments. Methods: A total of 93 patients were included in this study: Out of which 54 patients diagnosed with bronchial asthma and 19 patients diagnosed as non asthmatic athletes receiving salbutamol. None of the patients were taking any antioxidant supplements and did not have any symptoms of lower or upper respiratory tract infection. Those patients who had pulmonary or systemic disease or an acute exacerbation of asthma within the past 4 weeks were excluded from the study. No drug was allowed on the day of testing. Twenty age matched control subjects were selected without respiratory symptoms and normal lung functions. All recruited subjects were nonsmokers and majority of the patients included in the present study were reported in emergency with attack of tachycardia. Conclusion: Salbutamol-induced hypokalaemia becomes the ultimate cause of tachyarrthmias which result in higher levels of O2 & stimulate the membrane-bound β2-adrenoceptor linked Na+/K+ ATPase causing potassium influx into cells.

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