Corticosteroids Slash COPD Deaths

The outcomes of two new studies have revealed that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who used inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) experienced a 30% reduction in risk for either rehospitalization or death from COPD.

In an effort to avoid "immortal time bias,” the researchers created two matched sets of patients, based on a cohort from the General Practice Database (London, UK). This database is the world's largest computed database of anonymized longitudinal medical records on primary care. All patients had been hospitalized for a COPD-related condition from 1990-1999. In the first study, each group of matched patients numbered 393. One set was treated with ICS and the other was untreated. In the second study, a case-control analysis of 2,222 patients was designed without regard to ICS exposure. Both studies resulted in a reduction of about 30% in the risk for either death or hospitalization.

COPD is now the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, causing more than 2.5 million deaths per year. COPD is characterized by airflow obstruction that interferes with normal breathing. The two most frequent disease conditions covered by the COPD category are severe emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

The findings were reported in the August 15, 2005, issue of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The research was led by Victor A. Kiri, Ph.D., worldwide epidemiology, GlaxoSmithKline (London, UK).




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