Asthma improved by acetylsalicylic acid and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents

Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) cause a variety of symptoms in patients sensitive to these drugs. These include wheezing, rhinorrhea, flushing, pruritus, urticaria, hypotension and loss of consciousness. Conversely, improvement of asthma with the use of these drugs in patients who do not have idiosyncratic reactions to ASA (ASA-nonsensitive) has also been observed both with respect to clinical symptoms and pulmonary function tests.