© 2003 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Thoracic Society
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There is now considerable evidence that inhaled steroids reduce exacerbation frequency in patients with more severe COPD, although evidence that they affect disease progression has been lacking. In this issue of Thorax Rand Sutherland and colleagues report a meta-analysis of eight large studies of 2 or more years which evaluated the longer term effects of inhaled steroids. The meta-analysis concluded that inhaled steroid treatment slows the rate of decline in FEV1 and that the effect is greater with higher dose regimes. This meta-analysis is further discussed by Burge and Lewis in an accompanying editorial in which they explain why the results of the present study differ from a previously published meta-analysis of long term inhaled steroid treatment. Burge and Lewis also point out that future studies should now pay attention to the optimal inhaled steroid dose, the stage of disease severity for commencing treatment, and the effects of combinations with
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This article has been cited by other articles:
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Hahn, D L, Burge, P S, Lewis, S A
(2004). Ethics of placebo controlled studies of inhaled steroids for COPD * Authors' reply. Thorax
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Duerden, M G
(2004). Do inhaled corticosteroids slow FEV1 decline in COPD after all?. Thorax
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