News
CHEST study questions inhaled steroids for COPD
PULSE magazine, UK
It is one of the holy grails of drug company research – that elusive proof that adding inhaled steroids to long-acting ß-agonists really does save lives.
Companies have spent millions on trials aiming to convince GPs that steroids are an essential part of their armoury.
But although steroids can reduce exacerbation rates and improve quality of life, overall mortality improvements have proven harder to demonstrate. Smoking cessation and oxygen supplementation are still the only treatments shown to reduce mortality rates.
And concerns that adding in a steroid can actually cause harm, by increasing the risk of pneumonia, have further muddied the waters.
