MONDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- Prior use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a decreased risk of short-term mortality and use of mechanical ventilation following hospitalization for pneumonia, according to a study published online April 21 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Dennis Chen, from the South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio, and colleagues examined the effects of previous ICS use on the clinical outcomes of 15,768 patients with COPD hospitalized with pneumonia. Of these, 8,271 patients had previously used ICS and 7,497 patients had not. Mortality, use of invasive mechanical ventilation, and vasopressor use were the main outcomes studied.
The investigators found that there was a significant difference for 90-day mortality between the ICS and the no-ICS group (17.3 versus 22.8 percent). Prior ICS use was correlated with reduced 30-day mortality (odds ratio [OR], 0.80), reduced 90-day mortality (OR, 0.78), and reduced use of mechanical ventilation (OR, 0.83). Prior ICS use was not significantly correlated with vasopressor use (OR, 0.88).
"We showed that prior outpatient therapy with ICS was associated with significantly lower 30- and 90-day mortality in patients with COPD who were hospitalized with pneumonia, after adjusting for potential confounders," the authors write.
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