Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Long-term treatment with inhaled budesonide in persons with mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who continue smoking. European Respiratory Society Study on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Pauwels, R A ; Löfdahl, Claes-Göran LU ; Laitinen, L A ; Schouten, J P ; Postma, D S ; Pride, N B and Ohlsson, S V (1999) In New England Journal of Medicine 340(25). p.1948-1953
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) should stop smoking, some do not. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we evaluated the effect of the inhaled glucocorticoid budesonide in patients with mild COPD who continued smoking. After a six-month run-in period, we randomly assigned 1277 subjects (mean age, 52 years; mean forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1], 77 percent of the predicted value; 73 percent men) to twice-daily treatment with 400 microg of budesonide or placebo, inhaled from a dry-powder inhaler, for three years. RESULTS: Of the 1277 subjects, 912 (71 percent) completed the study. Among these subjects, the median decline in the FEV1 after the use of a bronchodilator over the... (More)
BACKGROUND: Although patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) should stop smoking, some do not. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we evaluated the effect of the inhaled glucocorticoid budesonide in patients with mild COPD who continued smoking. After a six-month run-in period, we randomly assigned 1277 subjects (mean age, 52 years; mean forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1], 77 percent of the predicted value; 73 percent men) to twice-daily treatment with 400 microg of budesonide or placebo, inhaled from a dry-powder inhaler, for three years. RESULTS: Of the 1277 subjects, 912 (71 percent) completed the study. Among these subjects, the median decline in the FEV1 after the use of a bronchodilator over the three-year period was 140 ml in the budesonide group and 180 ml in the placebo group (P=0.05), or 4.3 percent and 5.3 percent of the predicted value, respectively. During the first six months of the study, the FEV1 improved at the rate of 17 ml per year in the budesonide group, as compared with a decline of 81 ml per year in the placebo group (P<0.001). From nine months to the end of treatment, the FEV1 declined at similar rates in the two groups (P=0.39). Ten percent of the subjects in the budesonide group and 4 percent of those in the placebo group had skin bruising (P<0.001). Newly diagnosed hypertension, bone fractures, postcapsular cataracts, myopathy, and diabetes occurred in less than 5 percent of the subjects, and the diagnoses were equally distributed between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with mild COPD who continue smoking, the use of inhaled budesonide is associated with a small one-time improvement in lung function but does not appreciably affect the long-term progressive decline. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
New England Journal of Medicine
volume
340
issue
25
pages
1948 - 1953
publisher
Massachusetts Medical Society
external identifiers
  • pmid:10379018
  • scopus:0345188819
ISSN
0028-4793
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
426a0488-b37a-4062-b0d9-d4e7911080a2 (old id 1115385)
alternative location
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/340/25/1948
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:35:10
date last changed
2022-04-28 08:45:43
@article{426a0488-b37a-4062-b0d9-d4e7911080a2,
  abstract     = {{BACKGROUND: Although patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) should stop smoking, some do not. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we evaluated the effect of the inhaled glucocorticoid budesonide in patients with mild COPD who continued smoking. After a six-month run-in period, we randomly assigned 1277 subjects (mean age, 52 years; mean forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1], 77 percent of the predicted value; 73 percent men) to twice-daily treatment with 400 microg of budesonide or placebo, inhaled from a dry-powder inhaler, for three years. RESULTS: Of the 1277 subjects, 912 (71 percent) completed the study. Among these subjects, the median decline in the FEV1 after the use of a bronchodilator over the three-year period was 140 ml in the budesonide group and 180 ml in the placebo group (P=0.05), or 4.3 percent and 5.3 percent of the predicted value, respectively. During the first six months of the study, the FEV1 improved at the rate of 17 ml per year in the budesonide group, as compared with a decline of 81 ml per year in the placebo group (P&lt;0.001). From nine months to the end of treatment, the FEV1 declined at similar rates in the two groups (P=0.39). Ten percent of the subjects in the budesonide group and 4 percent of those in the placebo group had skin bruising (P&lt;0.001). Newly diagnosed hypertension, bone fractures, postcapsular cataracts, myopathy, and diabetes occurred in less than 5 percent of the subjects, and the diagnoses were equally distributed between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with mild COPD who continue smoking, the use of inhaled budesonide is associated with a small one-time improvement in lung function but does not appreciably affect the long-term progressive decline.}},
  author       = {{Pauwels, R A and Löfdahl, Claes-Göran and Laitinen, L A and Schouten, J P and Postma, D S and Pride, N B and Ohlsson, S V}},
  issn         = {{0028-4793}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{25}},
  pages        = {{1948--1953}},
  publisher    = {{Massachusetts Medical Society}},
  series       = {{New England Journal of Medicine}},
  title        = {{Long-term treatment with inhaled budesonide in persons with mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who continue smoking. European Respiratory Society Study on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease}},
  url          = {{http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/340/25/1948}},
  volume       = {{340}},
  year         = {{1999}},
}