Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics
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Pulm Pharmacol Ther · Aug 2017
Meta AnalysisWithdrawal of inhaled corticosteroids in COPD: A meta-analysis.
Conflicting findings exist on the benefit of withdrawal of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We performed a quantitative synthesis in order to assess real impact of ICS discontinuation in COPD patients. ⋯ The discrepancy between statistical analysis and clinical interpretation of this meta-analytic evaluation demonstrates the strong clinical need in understanding what is the real impact of ICS withdrawal in COPD. ICS discontinuation is a complex procedure that requires a well planned and tailored strategy. Further well designed studies on withdrawal of ICS should be performed by clustering COPD patients with regard to the phenotype characteristics, rate of exacerbations/year, decline of lung function, and quality of life.