Active albuterol or placebo, sham acupuncture, or no intervention in asthma.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In prospective experimental studies in patients with asthma, it is difficult to determine whether responses to placebo differ from the natural course of physiological changes that occur without any intervention. We compared the effects of a bronchodilator, two placebo interventions, and no intervention on outcomes in patients with asthma.

Methods

In a double-blind, crossover pilot study, we randomly assigned 46 patients with asthma to active treatment with an albuterol inhaler, a placebo inhaler, sham acupuncture, or no intervention. Using a block design, we administered one each of these four interventions in random order during four sequential visits (3 to 7 days apart); this procedure was repeated in two more blocks of visits (for a total of 12 visits by each p

SUBMITTER: Wechsler ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3154208 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature