Public release date: 8-Oct-2009 [ Print | E-mail | Share Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Keely Savoie ksavoie@thoracic.org 212-315-8620 American Th

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/ats-tth100509.php

Public release date: 8-Oct-2009
Contact: Keely Savoie
American Thoracic Society
Triple therapy halves exacerbations in moderate-to-severe COPD

AUDIO: ATS past president John E. Heffner, M.D., discusses the finding that triple therapy improves symptoms, functional capacity and reduces rsik of exacerbations in severe COPD.
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Patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can benefit from triple therapy that includes a long-acting β-agonist (LABA), an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and an anti-muscarinic agent, according to researchers in Germany.

In the study, which will appear in the October 15 issue of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, researchers found that adding budesonide, an ICS, and formoterol, a LABA, to the anti-muscarinic agent, tiotropium, reduced the rate of severe exacerbations in COPD patients by 62 percent. Triple therapy also resulted in significant improvements on a number of outcome parameters in COPD patients, including lung function, signs and symptoms, and quality of life.

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