Use of intravenous magnesium sulfate for the treatment of severe acute asthma in children in emergency department

Asthma is the most common disease in childhood and is a major cause of morbidity, as assessed by school absenteeism, emergency department visits and hospital admissions. In the United Kingdom, asthma affects 5.2 million people, 1.1 million of them children. In the UK, asthma is responsible for approximately 60,000 hospital admissions yearly.(2) Although most children in asthma crisis respond well to initial treatment with inhaled bronchodilators and oral corticosteroids, asthma may still cause death in a number of cases. In the United Kingdom, approximately 25 children die from asthma yearly, and poor quality emergency care may be responsible for up to one-third of these deaths.(3)