Therapies for COPD Exacerbations in Adults

Key Clinical Issue

What are the benefits and harms of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments for exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adults?

Evidence-Based Answer

In adults with exacerbations of COPD, antibiotic therapy increases the clinical cure rate and decreases the clinical failure rate. (Strength of Recommendation [SOR]: A, based on consistent, good-quality patient-oriented evidence.) Systemic corticosteroid therapy improves dyspnea and reduces the clinical failure rate. (SOR: B, based on inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence.) Titrated oxygen reduces mortality when compared with high flow oxygen. (SOR: B, based on inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence.) Resistance training improves dyspnea and quality of life. (SOR: B, based on inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence.) Early pulmonar y rehabilitation initiated during hospitalization improves dyspnea.1 (SOR: B, based on inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence.)

Practice Pointers

COPD affects 10% of the global population. In the United States, it affects 15 million people, is the fourth leading cause of death, and costs the health care system $32 billion each year.1 COPD is a chronic disease marked by exacerbations that impact quality of life and are potentially fatal. This Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) review was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and harms of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments for COPD exacerbations in adults.1

The review included 98 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) encompassing 13,401 patients. When compared with placebo, antibiotic therapy improved the clinical cure rate (three RCTs with 683 patients; odds ratio [OR] = 2.03; 95% CI, 1.47 to 2.80) and decreased the clinical failure rate by the end of the intervention (two RCTs with 405 patients; OR = 0.54; 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.86). Clinical cure was defined as improvement in signs and symptoms; clinical failure was defined as a lack of improvement in signs and symptoms or the need for additional treatment. There were no differences in clinical failure rates at the longest follow-up, hospital readmissions at 30 days, repeat exacerbations at 30 days, or adverse events. Multiple comparisons among antibiotics, doses, and durations were mostly insufficient for showing an improvement in clinical cure and failure rates, repeat exacerbations, and mortality.

In general, systemic corticosteroids were more effective than placebo in improving dyspnea on a numeric scale (two RCTs with 154 patients; standardized mean difference = 0.40; 95% CI, 0.07 to 0.70) and reducing clinical failure rate at the end of the intervention (two RCTs with 217 patients; OR = 0.01; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.13). Some evidence indicated that total adverse events were higher with systemic corticosteroids compared with placebo (rate ratio = 1.55; 95% CI, 1.14 to 2.10), but there was no difference in serious adverse events such as gastrointestinal bleeding, hypertension, or psychiatric disorders. The evidence was insufficient to compare different corticosteroids with respect to dyspnea, clinical failure, and death. Evidence was insufficient to compare different routes of administration and duration of corticosteroid use. The evidence was insufficient to determine the effects of other pharmacologic agents, including inhaled antibiotics, inhaled corticosteroids, magnesium, and mucolytics.