European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Intravenous magnesium is ineffective in adult asthma, a randomized trial.
Intravenous magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) has been tried in the emergency department treatment of asthma since the mid-1980s, but published reports vary as to its efficacy. The literature suggests that it may be effective in the more severely ill asthmatic. We evaluated i.v. ⋯ In moderately severe adult asthmatics, 2.0 grams of MgSO4 i.v. resulted in less improvement in peak expiratory flow compared with placebo. MgSO4 did not appear to decrease subjective dyspnoea or the hospital admission rate. This evidence does not support the use of MgSO4 in the treatment of acute asthma.