Effects of Salbutamol in Athletes and Implications for Screening and Sports

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA · Jun 17, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is looking at how a common asthma medication called salbutamol affects athletes, especially those who don’t have asthma but might experience some breathing difficulties during intense exercise. While salbutamol is known to help people with asthma breathe easier, it’s unclear if it benefits healthy athletes. The study aims to find out if there’s a specific group of non-asthmatic athletes who might improve their breathing and athletic performance by using this medication.

To take part, you would need to be an endurance athlete (like a runner or cyclist) who is currently training or competing, with a very high aerobic fitness level and a healthy body weight. You also need to be able to read and understand English. People who smoke, use vaping devices, or have certain heart, lung, or muscle problems won’t be eligible. If you join, you can expect to undergo exercise tests to see how your breathing responds to salbutamol. This study is not yet recruiting, but it’s designed to better understand how this asthma medicine might help some athletes and to inform sports screening rules.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Aerobic capacity (V̇O2max) greater than 120% predicted
• • Body mass index (BMI) \> 18 and \< 30 kg/m2
• • Ability to read and understand English
• • Currently training and/or competing in endurance sports (i.e. running or cycling)
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Smoking history or currently smoking. Currently smoking is defined as regular use of cigarettes or cannabis at any point in the past year. History of smoking is defined as smoking more than 1 pack year for cigarettes or the equivalent in cannabis use measured as puffs per day / 200 (number of puffs in a pack of cigarettes).
• • Use of cannabis within the past 30 days or has a smoking history of at least 1 pack year.
• • Use of vaping devices or e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, or has used them more than 10 times in their lifetime.
• • History or current symptoms of cardiopulmonary disease (excluding controlled asthma)
• • Contraindications to exercise testing defined as anything that would prevent exercise under proper and safe conditions (e.g., a problem with the heart or lungs, muscle)
• • Neuromuscular or musculoskeletal condition