The bronchodilator effect of intravenous glucagon in asthma exacerbation: a randomized, controlled trial

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Glucagon.

Glucagon is a rapid-acting smooth muscle relaxant with a short half-life.

The researchers sought to determine whether intravenous glucagon produces clinically important immediate bronchodilation in emergency department patients with asthma exacerbation.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, both men and women.

ED patients 18 to 50 years old with asthma exacerbation and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) less than 350 L/min were eligible.

Exclusion criteria were need for intubation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, insulinoma, pheochromocytoma, pregnancy, lactation, or current oral steroid treatment.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Glucagon study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Glucagon.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Glucagon could be set against what happens without it.

The researchers conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study at 2 university-affiliated community teaching hospital EDs (annual census 90,000).

At 10 minutes, PEFR was measured and all patients began standardized albuterol therapy.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Asthma, Bronchodilator Agents and Glucagon.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Glucagon.

Its findings take up roughly 3 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2000 (Annals of emergency medicine), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Glucagon compound page, all human trials.