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A novel approach to treating asthma - which causes the worsening of symptoms to improve them later - can lead to long-term, improved respiratory function, suggests new research.

Asthma is traditionally treated with drugs called agonists, which open inflamed and constricted airways to improve breathing.

But a new, counterintuitive method in which antagonists called beta blockers are given to worsen breathing, is showing that the reverse may be more effective...

The original article can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/04/10/beta-blockers.html?ref=rss

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what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

This story is a relatively typical example of reporting on the results of a clinical trial. It omits some important information such as treatment cost and availability as well as information on the nature of the clinical trial that is referred to in the report. Although the story provided the absolute percent of patients who benefited (80%) from the treatment, it did not define the term "improvement" and did not indicate the average amount of benefit seen by the patients. The large gaps seen in the reporting may suggest that the story was based on a press release sent out by the journal.

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