WEDNESDAY, Dec. 27 (HealthScout) -- A drug that doctors commonly prescribe to help asthma patients does nothing to reverse the effects of serious lung disease caused by long-term smoking, a new study says.

At most, corticosteroid inhalants may slightly ease symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) when the condition flares up, researchers say. "Prior to these long-term studies, there were only short-term studies that suggested that corticosteroids would be beneficial," says Dr. Paul Scanlon, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a co-principal investigator of the review, called the Lung Health Study II. "Since the drug is used to treat asthma, by inference we thought the spray would be effective in COPD, which shares many similarities with asthma, including inflammation of the airways," he adds. The new study looked at 1,116 North Americans, all of whom smoked or had just quit smoking. Half received the inhalant while the other half got a placebo to see if using corticosteroids stopped the lungs from deteriorating. The four-and-a-half-year study showed "there was no effect on slowing the progression of the disease," Scanlon says. "There was some reduction in symptoms such as the shortness of breath and the cough of COPD, and there was some reduction in doctor's office visits. But basically the main result of this study is negative." There were some small negative effects from the inhalant, Scanlon adds, including a "reduction in bone density." The findings were published in the Dec. 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The disease, a mixture of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, usually attacks people with a long history of heavy cigarette smoking, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. More than 10,000 Americans die from it each year, making it the fifth most common cause of death in the United States. The disease gradually worsens over time. At first, there may be only mild shortness of breath and occasional coughing. Then a chronic cough develops. Then, more and more effort is needed to get air into and out of the lungs. Eventually, the lungs stop working and death results. Is there anything you can do to reverse the effects of the disease? "For slowing the progression of COPD, smoking cessation is the only thing we can tell people to do," Scanlon says. "If you quit smoking, the rate of decline in lung function is the normal rate of decline you would expect to see as people age." Dr. James Kiley, director of the division of lung diseases for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which supported the study, says the review puts to rest any lingering controversy about whether corticosteroids help overcome the effects of the disease. "Smoking cessation is the only intervention we know of that effectively slows the decline associated with this disease," he says. Corticosteroids "may reduce symptoms and improve the quality of life slightly, but they do not effect the primary outcome," Kiley says.

<< Prev	CIGoutlet.NET News Home	Next >>