A new analysis that compares two common inhalers for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) finds that one reduces respiratory-related hospitalizations and respiratory deaths, but the other -- which is prescribed in the majority of cases -- increases respiratory deaths.
The Cornell and Stanford universities' statistical analysis of 22 trials with 15,276 participants found that common bronchodilators known as anticholinergics (generically named tiotropium and ipratropium) reduced severe respiratory events by 33 percent and respiratory-related deaths by 73 percent, compared with a placebo.
However, the same meta-analysis (which combines the results of the numerous studies) found that regularly inhaled beta-agonists (metaproterenol [Alupent], formoterol [Foradil], salmeterol [Serevent, Advair] and albuterol [Proventil, Ventolin, Volmax and others]) increased the risk of respiratory death more than twofold, compared with a placebo.
Yet only 5 percent of all prescriptions for COPD are anticholinergics, with beta-agonists dominating what doctors prescribe, the researchers report.
The study, now online, will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
COPD is a progressive lung disease characterized by difficulty breathing, wheezing and a chronic cough. Complications include bronchitis and pneumonia. It is often associated with smoking.
"When patients used the anticholinergics, they experienced fewer severe exacerbations requiring hospitalizations and fewer respiratory deaths than those taking only a placebo," said Edwin Salpeter, the J.G. White Distinguished Professor of Physical Sciences Emeritus at Cornell, who led the statistical analysis in the study. An eminent astrophysicist, Salpeter has more recently focused his attention on medical statistics. "With the beta-agonists, it's the other way around, where the number of respiratory deaths increased when compared with those
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Contact: Krishna Ramanujan
ksr32@cornell.edu
607-255-3290
Cornell University News Service
3-Jul-2006