(dailyRx)
Sudden coughing attacks for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) can be a frightening, life-threatening event. These are usually brought on by bacterial infections.
COPD is a progressive lung disease with no cure, but can be moderated with lifestyle choices and medications. It is also the third leading cause of death in the United States.
New research indicates that adding the common antibiotic azithromycin (Zithromax, Zmax) to the treatment mix is effective in reducing aggravations suffered by patients with COPD. Zithromax is already prescribed for a number of bacterial infections, like strep throat and pneumonia.
Mark T. Dransfield, M.D., director of the University of Alabama Birmingham Lung Health Center and associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine reports that aggravations account for a significant portion of additional treatments for patients with COPD. These promising results with azithromycin may improve the quality of patients lives most at risk of these acute attacks.
Dr. Dransfield estimates that this azithromycin therapy might be appropriate for up to three million of the 12 million people in the United States with COPD.
The study enrolled more than 1,000 subjects with COPD. Half of the participants added 250 mg of azithromycin every day for one year to the standard treatment protocol. The other half of the patients used the standard protocol without any additional antibiotics.
The participants, who were given azithromycin averaged 1.48 acute COPD attacks annually compared to 1.83 in the group that didn’t take the antibiotic. Additionally, the patients on azithromycin reported feeling better and breathing easier than the patients who weren’t given the additional drug.
Around 80 percent of study participants were taking other medications used to manage their COPD during the study period. These medications included bronchodilators and inhaled steroids.
Side-effects from azithromycin were insignificant even though the use of the drug increased the presence of antibiotic resistant microbes in some of this commonly prescribed antibiotic were minimal. Azithromycin increased the presence of antibiotic-resistant microbes in some patients, although no one developed an infection. A slight lose of hearing due to the azithromycin therapy did occur in a small fraction of these patients.
This study is reported in the Aug. 25 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
COPD
About 13.5 million people in the United States suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is the fourth leading cause of death in the country and 80% to 90% of the cases are caused by cigarette smoking.
COPD is defined as the occurrence of either chronic bronchitis (long term cough with mucus production) or emphysema (destruction of the lung tissue that causes the air sacs to collapse), and usually both of these conditions are simultaneously present. Most cases are caused by smoking, but long term exposure to pollution, cooking gases, or any other workplace fumes without proper ventilation can cause it as well.