TY - JOUR T1 - Increased risk of asthma death with salmeterol monotherapy compared with placebo, but not with salmeterol plus inhaled corticosteroids compared with inhaled corticosteroids alone JF - Evidence Based Medicine JO - Evid Based Med SP - 37 LP - 38 DO - 10.1136/ebm1030 VL - 15 IS - 2 AU - Gustavo J Rodrigo Y1 - 2010/04/01 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/15/2/37.abstract N2 - Commentary on: Weatherall M, Wijesinghe M, Perrin K, et al. Meta-analysis of the risk of mortality with salmeterol and the effect of concomitant inhaled corticosteroid therapy. Thorax 2010;65:39–43.OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text Weatherall and colleagues performed a meta-analysis of all randomised controlled trials of salmeterol included in the GlaxoSmithKline database to determine if its use was associated with an increased risk of asthma mortality (primary outcome) and whether inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) therapy influences any such risk. Three datasets were analysed: (1) salmeterol monotherapy (salmeterol vs placebo); (2) salmeterol with ICS (including ICS as randomised therapy or ICS as concurrent background medication) versus patients receiving ICS; and (3) salmeterol as combination salmeterol/fluticasone propionate versus ICS. On the basis of 215 studies with more than 100 000 patients, the authors found 35 deaths from asthma (all in adults) of which 86% came from two clinical trials.1,–,2 The main results were … ER -