Salbutamol is a medication that opens up the medium and large airways in the lungs.
It is a short-acting beta 2 adrenergic receptor agonist which works by causing relaxation of airway smooth muscle. It is used to treat asthma, including asthma attacks, exercise induced bronchoconstriction, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It may also be used to treat high blood potassium levels.
Onset of action of the inhaled version is typically within 15 minutes and lasts for two to six hours.
Salbutamol is typically used to treat bronchospasm (due to any cause allergic asthma or exercise induced), as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is also one of the most common medicines used in rescue inhalers (short term bronchodilators to alleviate asthma attacks). It has been used to treat acute hyperkalemia, as it stimulates potassium flow into cells, thus lowering the potassium in the blood.
