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COPD patients using inhaled steroids at risk for severe pneumonia

COPD patients using inhaled steroids at risk for severe pneumonia Medical practitioners generally recommend inhaled steroids to patients affected by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) but a study has found out that these anti-inflammatory drugs could increase the risk of pneumonia.

It was remarked by the researchers that present inhaled corticosteroid use was linked with a significant 70 percent increase in the risk of being hospitalization for pneumonia. This remark came after evaluating a large cohort of patients with COPD.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Pierre Ernst, M.D., a clinical epidemiologist at McGill University, Canada, along with three other researchers from the university’s department of medicine, analyzed the hospitalization and drug prescription information from 1988 to 2003 of 175,906 patients with COPD living in Quebec, Canada. During that time, 23,942 of the patients were hospitalized for pneumonia.

In their report, the researchers noted that the admission rate for pneumonia increased with higher doses of inhaled steroids and that reduction in risk was observed once the medications were stopped. Among all patients taking inhaled steroids, there was a 53 percent increase in pneumonia deaths within 30 days of being admitted to the hospital.

The investigators noted that these findings are particularly relevant, given that pneumonia is the third leading cause of hospitalization in the United States and that inhaled corticosteroid use among patients with COPD increased from 13.2 to 41.4 percent from 1987 to 1995.

These findings were reported in the second issue of the July American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.

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