Inhaled corticosteroids reduce death rate.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief article

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who use inhaled corticesteroids may have a significantly decreased mortality risk, according to a study by Christine Macie of Cambridge Hospital, Ontario, Canada. Patients who received inhaled corticosteroids within 30 days of hospital discharge had a 25% reduced all-cause mortality rate. Cardiovascular-related death alone in patients using steroids paired with beta-agonists is reduced by 38%.

"COPD is an undertreated lung disease that has associated heart disease;' explains Macie. "Controversy exists with respect to the effect of inhaled corticosteroids on mortality. Our study examined the effect of inhaled corticosteroids on survival, and results suggest that the survival is longer in patients using inhaled corticosteroids"

Macie and her colleagues found that the mortality rate in patients 65 and older who receive inhaled corticosteroids is 11.7%, compared with 13.1% for those who do not. Patients in the 35- to 64-year-old group show even greater results, with a mortality rate of three percent for patients receiving inhaled corticosteroids within 90 days, compared with six percent for those who do not...