236 Volume 6; Issue 3 Journal of Clinical and Nursing Research, 2022, Volume 6, Issue 3 http://ojs.bbwpublisher.com/index.php/JCNR ISSN Online: 2208-3693 ISSN Print: 2208-3685 Diseases of the Respiratory Tract: Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Sara M Tony 1 , Mohamed EA Abdelrahim 2 * 1 Beni-Suef Specialized Hospital, Beni-Suef, Egypt 2 Clinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt *Corresponding author: Mohamed EA Abdelrahim, mohamedemam9@yahoo.com Copyright: © 2022 Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), permitting distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is cited. Abstract: Short acting β2-agonists (SABAs) such as salbutamol and terbutaline are commonly used in the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). According to the guideline produced by the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), SABAs are considered to be the first line of treatment in asthma management. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines also recommend the use of SABA as the first line of treatment for managing patients with COPD. The recommendations in NICE guidelines state that in COPD patients, breathlessness and exercise limitation should be first medicated with short-acting bronchodilators (including β2-agonists or anticholinergics) when it is required. Both salbutamol and terbutaline have been widely used for asthma and COPD, and they have been found to be extremely beneficial in the two pathologic conditions. Keywords: Respiratory tract; Asthma; COPD Online publication: May 31, 2022 (This article belongs to Special Issue: All about Pharmaceutical Drug Interventions, From Inventing the Drug to its Therapeutic Effect on Patient Health) 1. Asthma Asthma, also known as reversible airway obstruction, is defined as an increase in bronchial constriction as a result of exposure to various triggering factors that narrow the pulmonary airways and limit breathing capacity, followed by inflammatory changes. The symptoms of asthma include dyspnea, wheezing, cough, chest tightness, breathlessness, and poor exercise tolerance. Productive cough (produces sticky mucus) is also considered one of symptoms. The cause of asthma is still not well understood. Asthma, which is linked to the exposure to specific allergic (irritant) substances, such as pollen grains and dust mites, non-specific irritants, such as chemical allergic substances, or exercise is known as extrinsic or allergic asthma. In the absence of any possible external precipitating factors, asthma is referred to as intrinsic asthma. These triggers can lead to the release of chemical mediators, such as histamine and leukotrienes, from mast cells in an asthmatic’s lungs. These chemical mediators give rise to bronchial lining irritations, bronchial narrowing, and also bronchial spasms. In severe cases, complete bronchial obstruction may occur, leading to the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) inside the lungs, which can result in loss of consciousness or even death.