The main drugs used in the treatment of asthma are glucocorticosteroids, β2 agonists, leukotriene modulators, theophyllines, and anticholinergics.
1. Glucocorticosteroids: glucocorticosteroids are the most effective drugs to control asthma, commonly used inhaled glucocorticosteroids are beclomethasone, budesonide; oral prednisone and methylprednisolone are commonly used.
2. β2 agonists: they can be divided into short-acting β2 agonists and long-acting β2 agonists. Short-acting β2 agonists mainly include salbutamol and terbutaline; long-acting β2 agonists include salmeterol and formoterol, which are mostly used in combination with inhaled glucocorticoids.
3. Leukotriene modulators: these are asthma-controlling drugs that can be used alone, mainly including montelukast and zalukast.
4. Theophyllines: commonly used are aminophylline and doxophylline, which can be used orally or intravenously.
5. Anticholinergics: they can be divided into short-acting anticholinergics and long-acting anticholinergics. Short-acting anticholinergics are mainly ipratropium bromide and long-acting anticholinergics are tiotropium bromide.
The above drugs have different applicability and contraindication crowd, long-term use may produce various adverse reactions, not blindly self-administration, need to be standardized under the guidance of professional physicians and pharmacists, reasonable application.