Examining the Impact of Salbutamol on Respiratory Processes: A Study

This practical assignment investigates the effects of inhaling salbutamol on respiratory processes, specifically heart rate and lung function, using a randomized, controlled, cross-over design. The study involved measuring heart rate and lung function (FVC and FEV1) before and after nebulizer administration of salbutamol (treatment) or saline (control) to 30 participants. Statistical analysis, including paired sample t-tests and Mann Whitney tests, was conducted to determine significant differences between the groups. The results indicated that while salbutamol inhalation significantly affected heart rate (t = 3.27, p = 0.003), there was no statistically significant difference in lung function (FVC: U = 111.500, p = 0.967; FEV1: U = 92.500, p = 0.412) between the salbutamol and saline groups. The conclusion drawn is that inhaling salbutamol has a notable impact on heart rate but does not significantly alter lung function in the studied population.

Title: Examination of the Effect of Inhaling Salbutamol on respiratory processes
Abstract
It is known that respiratory processes can be influenced by factors such as level of adrenaline in
the body, inhalation of salbutamol, Drugs and Alcohol as well as other known factors. The aim
of this experiment was to examine the effects of inhaling salbutamol on respiratory processes, as
such an experiment was conducted using salbutamol as the treatment and saline as its control on
30 individuals given different conditions.
The research adopted a randomized, controlled, cross-over design. Where the heart rate and lung
function before and after nebulizer for both the Salbutamol experiment and Saline control was
measured and recorded after which paired sample t-test to test for difference of means and a
Mann Whitney test was conducted on the independent variables to test for hypothesis which
were used to answer the research question.
Research question
What is the effect of inhaling Salbutamol on both the heart beat and lung function before and
after inhaling a nebulizer?
Results and conclusion
From the results, there is a difference in the lung function for both the Salbutamol experiment
and Saline control (U = 111.500, z = - 0.041, p = 0.967) and (U = 92.500, z = -0.83, p = 0.41)
for both FVC and FEV respectively. However, there is no difference in heart beat rate between
the experiment and the control with a t-statistic of 3.27 and p value 0.003.
Conclusion
Inhaling Salbutamol has an effect on the heartbeat rate but not on the lung function.
Results
From figure 1 it is evident that participants who inhaled Salbutamol had a relatively higher
heartbeat rate i.e. (Mean = 3.28, SEM =±1.80), compared to those in the Saline Control who had
an average mean of -6.57 and SEM ± 2.41. to test the whether there is significant difference in
means between the heartbeat rate of the experiment participants and control participants, under a
null hypothesis of zero mean difference, a T-test was conducted at a 95% significance level and

the p-value of the t-statistic of 3.27 was 0.003< 0.05 which is statistically not significant hence
fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there is no difference between heartbeat rate of
the participants from the two groups.
Figure 1. Number of Participants those had Salbutamol (n=15), or Saline control (n=15). Data Shown is
mean ± SEM.
A Mann Whitney test was conducted to examine whether there was significant relationship
between where the FEV1 levels of Salbutamol participants had a median of 0.140 and a
Variance of 0.026 while that of Saline control participants had a median of 0.010 and Variance
of ± 0.398. The independent sample Mann Whitney test was such that U = 92.500, z = -0.83, p
= 0.412 (Figure 2) which represent a moderate effect (r = - 0.152). As such reject the null
hypothesis and concluded that there is sufficient statistical evidence to indicate a difference in
FEV1 levels among the two groups.

Figure 2 FEV1 in both group Salbutamol (n=15) and Saline Control (n=15) participants. Data shown is
Median and 95% Confidence intervals.
Moreover, the FVC level of Salbutamol Participants had a median of- 0.050 and variance of
0.043 while that of the Saline Control participants differed slightly by 0.010 and ± 0.501
respectively. The independent sample Mann Whitney test was performed, U = 111.500, z = -
0.041, p = 0.967 (Figure 3), which represents a moderate effect (r = - 0.007).

Figure 3 FVC in both group Salbutamol (n=15) and Saline Control (n=15) participants. Data
shown is Median and 95% Confidence intervals.
Therefore, with a p-value of 0.967>0.05 in testing difference in FVC levels between the groups,
the null hypothesis of no difference is rejected and concluded that there is a difference in FVC
between the Salbutamol and Saline participants.