This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (11)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Roger C. Bone, MD

JAMA. 1995;273(12):967-968.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In a JAMA Editorial published on May 11,1994, I first warned of the dangers from misuse of salmeterol xinafoate.¹ Newspaper reports assert that since the introduction of salmeterol in the United States, perhaps as many as 20 asthma patients have died because of the possible misuse of this bronchodilator.^2,3 The newspaper articles were in reaction to a letter in the November 10,1994, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine in which Dr Frank N. Finkelstein⁴ of Plymouth, Mass, noted the respiratory deaths of two elderly women who were both found holding salmeterol inhalers. The women had been warned about the delayed reaction of salmeterol, and both had albuterol for emergencies.

It has been hypothesized that these and other deaths may be related to the inappropriate use of salmeterol for an acute attack of asthma. In a January 16,1995, "Dear Doctor" letter from Allen & Hanburys, the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Office of the President, Medical College of Ohio, Toledo. Dr Bone is a Consulting Editor of JAMA. He has received honoraria for participating in continuing medical education programs supported by unrestricted grants from Glaxo Pharmaceuticals, Research Triangle Park, NC. Allen & Hanburys, the manufacturer of salmeterol, is a division of Glaxo Pharmaceuticals.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Office of the President, Medical College of Ohio, 3000 Arlington Ave, Toledo, OH 43614 (Dr Bone).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?