Acute bronchitis is a chest infection, with cough and sometimes sputum production, chest pain and fever. People affected feel unwell and for those who do not have asthma or obstructive pulmonary disease there is no clear treatment. The cause of bronchitis is often viral, in which case antibiotics are unlikely to be effective. Beta2-agonists (such as albuterol or salbutamol) are drugs that relieve asthma by relaxing the muscles in the airways. They are sometimes used to try and relieve the cough in acute bronchitis, even in people who do not have asthma. From the seven randomised controlled trials (two in children aged one to 10 years (109 participants) and five in adults (418 participants)), daily cough scores were no different between children given oral beta2-agonists and children in the placebo control groups. Daily cough scores, or the number of people still coughing after seven days did not change in the adult trials either.
However, the results were mixed. Some trials show a benefit and some show no benefit. This may be because some of the participants also had wheezing or other signs of airway obstruction, in which case, beta2-agonists may be helpful only for them. Beta2-agonists can cause the adverse effects of tremor, shakiness and nervousness.
This review is limited by few trials with small numbers of participants. The trials were of short duration (three to seven days) and only two used inhaled beta2-agonists (which is now the usual administration route for adults and older children).