Lung Disease Experts at the Johns Hopkins have found evidence that inhaled corticosteroids can raise the risk of pneumonia by a full third in COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients. They advised physicians to be more careful before prescribing inhaled corticosteroids to these patients.

The involved researchers suspected that the corticosteroids tend to suppress the immune system of the body and are not sure how and why the corticosteroids’ treatment raises the risk of lung infection.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Physicians really need to strongly evaluate a patient’s individual characteristics before prescribing these steroid medications, and patients, in turn, should weigh the risks and benefits of taking the drugs, despite their proven record in providing symptomatic relief,” he says.

According to pulmonologist M. Brad Drummond, M.D., M.H.S., who led the study, “catching this bacterial infection can seriously disrupt quality of life, making it harder for COPD patients to breathe and possibly leading to hospitalization.”

Drummond says the new findings should serve as a reminder to people with the severe lung disease to take steps that reduce the chance of getting pneumonia, which doubles their risk of dying when compared to people with healthy lungs. He also advises COPD sufferers, in addition to weighing the benefits and harms of steroids, to get the pneumonia vaccination every five years and an annual flu vaccination because these shots reduce the chance of getting a lung infection.

A postdoctoral clinical research fellow at Hopkins, Drummond also advises lung disease sufferers to take additional precautions, including more frequent hand washing, and vigilant monitoring for the first and earliest signs of sickness, such as increased phlegm in the throat, shortness of breath, fever or chills.

Till Now, inhaled corticosteroids were being prescribed to the COPD patients by physicians to cure COPD symptoms such as phlegm, shortness of breath, physical exhaustion after a short exercise session, and wheezing.

Eddy Fan, M.D., senior study investigator, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and critical care specialist, said that there is no need to panic for patients but the physicians prescribing inhaled corticosteroids must be extra-cautious to screen and monitor the patients and must ascertain the lowest possible working doses of steroids.

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Tags: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, corticosteroids, inhaled corticosteroids, steroids

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