Treatment Efficacy of Systemic Corticosteroids in AECOPD Patients With Higher Blood Eosinophil Levels

Summary

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the top three causes of death worldwide now. Acute exacerbations (AEs) of COPD are a risk factor for lung function deterioration, poor quality of life, longer hospitalization, and increased mortality. To date, COPD is associated with a heavy clinical and socioeconomic burden, of which AEs of COPD account for a significant part of the cost of patients with COPD. Although several retrospective cohort studies and post-hoc analyses from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) showed that AECOPD patients with higher blood eosinophils had a shorter length of hospital stay (LOS), lower doses of corticosteroid use, and better response to systematic corticosteroid treatment than those with lower blood eosinophils, the efficacy of systematic corticosteroids in AECOPD patients with higher blood eosinophils has not been confirmed by RCTs. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate if AECOPD patients admitted to hospitals with higher blood eosinophil levels could benefit from systemic corticosteroid therapy. In this study, all eligible AECOPD participants with peripheral blood eosinophil blood count \>2% or \> 300 cells/μL will be randomly assigned (1:1) to either a control group or a systemic corticosteroid group. The control group will receive an oral placebo of 40mg/day for five consecutive days in addition to standard treatment during emergency admission or hospitalization. And systemic corticosteroid group will receive oral prednisone 40mg/day for five consecutive days and standard treatment. This study will provide evidence on using peripheral blood eosinophil blood count to guide corticosteroid therapy in AECOPD patients and help the clinician make an individual decision for each patient.

Timeline

Start

2023-03-05

Primary completion

2024-04-30

Completion

2024-05-31

Publications

• Background Labaki WW, Rosenberg SR. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Ann Intern Med. 2020 Aug 4;173(3):ITC17-ITC32. doi: 10.7326/AITC202008040.
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• Background Bafadhel M, Greening NJ, Harvey-Dunstan TC, Williams JE, Morgan MD, Brightling CE, Hussain SF, Pavord ID, Singh SJ, Steiner MC. Blood Eosinophils and Outcomes in Severe Hospitalized Exacerbations of COPD. Chest. 2016 Aug;150(2):320-8. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2016.01.026. Epub 2016 Feb 3.
• Background Cui Y, Zhan Z, Zeng Z, Huang K, Liang C, Mao X, Zhang Y, Ren X, Yang T, Chen Y. Blood Eosinophils and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis of Real-World Data in China. Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Jun 9;8:653777. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.653777. eCollection 2021.
• Background Ko FWS, Chan KP, Ngai J, Ng SS, Yip WH, Ip A, Chan TO, Hui DSC. Blood eosinophil count as a predictor of hospital length of stay in COPD exacerbations. Respirology. 2020 Mar;25(3):259-266. doi: 10.1111/resp.13660. Epub 2019 Aug 6.
• Liang L, Lin Y, Feng L, Shao S, Cao S, Rong H, Chu S, Xie W, Cai S, Wang J, Tong Z. Multicentre double-blind randomised controlled trial of systematic corticosteroid therapy in patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admitted to hospital with higher eosinophil levels: the ECHO protocol. BMJ Open. 2023 May 29;13(5):e066354. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066354.

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