Bronchospasm initiated by gastroesophageal reflux or airways obstruction associated with allergic rhinitis is prevented by anticholinergics.
Similarly, in patients with upper respiratory tract infections, the marked increases in airways reactivity precipitated by the infection are reversed by atropine [41]. More recent studies suggest anticholinergics might be highly effective in treating asthma.
Soon after the study of Peters et al. [3], which suggested that tiotropium was superior to steroids and β-agonists in controlling asthmatic airway function, 2 subsequent studies reported similar findings when using the ultra-potent and long acting anticholinergic .