Lung patients may be on the wrong inhaler

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A comparison shows that one kind of inhaler reduces hospital admission while the other increases the risk of lung-related deaths.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive lung disease marked by destruction of tissue which leads to breathlessness and increasing disability. Inhalers to improve lung functioning are often used to treat. Researchers at Cornell and Stanford Universities now reveal an analysis of comparison studies between anticholinergics and beta-agonists, the two main class of inhaler.

They found that only two patients out of over 4,000 on anticholinergics died of respiratory causes, compared to 12 of around the same number on placebo. For the beta-agonist group, there were 21 respiratory deaths out of 1,320 patients and eight respiratory deaths in 1,084 in the placebo group. In other words, beta-agonists appear to increase the risk of death in patients with COPD.

Meanwhile, the anticholinergic drugs benefited those with COPD by reducing the risk of hospital admission. However, most of the drugs prescribed to those with COPD are anticholinergics. According to this study, there may need to be a change in prescribing policy.

Source
Journal on General Internal Medicine online 4th July 2006

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