Evaluation of plasma and urinary salbutamol levels in COPD

Objective: To evaluate the use of trough plasma salbutamol and overnight urinary salbutamol excretion in the assessment of nebulised salbutamol delivery in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: Twenty in-patients with COPD receiving nebulised salbutamol, age 69.7 years, FEV₁ 38.1% predicted, were studied on two consecutive days, receiving four 2.5 mg doses of nebulised salbutamol on day 1 and four 5 mg doses of nebulised salbutamol on day 2, the first dose at 8.00 h the last dose at 22.00 h. Salbutamol delivery was assessed after the last dose by trough plasma salbutamol 8.00 h and overnight urinary excretion of salbutamol (22.00–8.00 h). Results: Levels of urinary salbutamol were detectable in all 20 patients at both doses, whereas for plasma salbutamol detectable levels were only found in 16/20 cases at the 2.5 mg dose and in all cases at the 5 mg dose. For overnight urinary salbutamol (μg⋅10 h⁻¹  n = 20) the results were 141 for 2.5 mg and 249 for 5 mg. The dose ratio for urinary salbutamol between 2.5 mg and 5 mg doses was 1.83. Results for plasma salbutamol (ng/ml, n = 16) were 1.58 at 2.5 mg and 2.43 at 5 mg: dose ratio (geometric mean) 1.49. Conclusion: Overnight urinary salbutamol provides a simple and effective measure of nebulised salbutamol delivery in patients with COPD, which would be suitable for studying nebuliser performance and compliance. Received: 14 March 1996/Accepted in revised form: 14 May 1996