Extract
Despite decades of research and clinical practice, we continue to debate the age-old question of how inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) fit into the treatment algorithms for patients living with COPD. For each patient, the benefits of reducing their exacerbation frequency must be weighed against their risk of pneumonia and oropharyngeal complications. Current clinical guidelines suggest restricting the use of ICS to those patients with frequent exacerbations, high peripheral blood eosinophil counts, or a concomitant diagnosis of asthma [1]. However, even with these criteria, identifying which of these patients will truly respond in a manner that outweighs their risk of suffering the unintended side-effects of ICS remains a challenge for clinicians. The search for effective biomarkers that can reliably discriminate between ICS responders and non-responders continues.
Tweetable abstract
The airway smooth muscle layer is a dynamic inflammatory environment, which may explain why, in COPD, patients with increased airway smooth muscle area may respond well to inhaled corticosteroids https://bit.ly/3oZQK4J
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: D.D. Sin has received a stipend for giving talks on COPD from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim. J.M. Leung has no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.
- Received June 6, 2023.
- Accepted June 8, 2023.
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