Rubbing ointments and asthma morbidity in adolescents

Objective: To determine the relationship between the use of rubbing ointments and asthma morbidity in adolescents. Design: Cross-sectional study. Settings/Location: Inner-city high school in the Bronx, New York. Subjects: 165 adolescents with asthma. Outcome measures: Asthma morbidity, defined as emergency department (ED) use for asthma in the past year and over the lifetime. Results: While 127 (77%) of subjects used albuterol as the first treatment for their last asthma attack, 18 (11%) used rubbing ointments. The rubs and albuterol groups were similar in asthma severity, mean age, gender, and ethnicity. However, subjects in the the rubs group were less likely than subjects in the albuterol group to have made an ED visit over the past 12 months or over their lifetime. Regression analysis revealed that, after controlling for asthma severity, use of rubs independently predicted less lifetime ED use. Conclusions: After controlling for asthma severity, use of rubs by adolescents with asthma was associated with lower asthma morbidity as measured by ED use.