Shorter steroid treatment worked for COPD exacerbations

This rigorous, high-quality clinical trial by Leuppi et al. makes it clear that a 5-day regimen of glucocorticoids is sufficient for most COPD exacerbations, and it reduced the cumulative exposure to steroids by 65%, noted Dr. Don D. Sin and Dr. Hye Yun Park.

"This is welcome news for patients with COPD who experience multiple exacerbations annually and are exposed to repeated courses of systemic corticosteroids. These findings will enable clinicians to minimize steroid exposure and reduce the risk of steroid-related toxicity in these patients," they wrote.

Dr. Sin and Dr. Park are at the University of British Columbia James Hogg Research Centre and the Institute for Heart and Lung Health at St. Paul’s Hospital, both in Vancouver. Dr. Park also is in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul (South Korea). Dr. Park reported no financial conflicts of interest. Dr. Sin reported ties to Merck Frosst, Novartis Canada, AstraZeneca, Grifols, Boehinger Ingelheim, and GlaxoSmithKline. These remarks were taken from their editorial accompanying Dr. Leuppi’s report (JAMA 2013 May 21 [doi:10.1001/jama.2013.5644]).