Another Steroid Warning

[larrynz]

www.ivanhoe.com:80/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=16628

Canadian investigators who studied more than 175,000 people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, found those on inhaled steroids were significantly more likely to be hospitalized with pneumonia and, most importantly, significantly more likely to have a severe form of the disease leading to death.
The drugs upped the overall pneumonia hospitalization rate by 70 percent. They increased the likelihood of dying within 30 days of a pneumonia hospitalization by 53 percent. People taking higher doses of the medications were the most affected.
These findings are troublesome, report the researchers, because inhaled steroid use among COPD patients has risen markedly over the past 20 years. In 1987, about 13 percent of COPD patients were taking the drugs. By 1995, that figure had risen to more than 41 percent.
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I think we have to read such reports with caution, after all if you are on inhaled steroids you are high risk of pneumonia without steroids, I will be keeping on with my medicines for sure.

[Blossom/Jackie W.]

I read that before not too too long ago. You and I take the same meds Larry and you're right I've no desire to quit either. For as much as I don't like taking Symbicort (or really any med for that matter); it does help tremendously.

(BTW; I'm glad you posted the additional piece on the bottom)

I was just over at COPD Info and saw something Martha had posted on this same issue. Basically it was a TORCH study done over 3 years in several countries. The results showed much better survival rates etc. with a combo treatment. I never read the perameters of but....

So; take your pick. The reality it that I think it takes more than one study but several studies on the same issues since sometimes things are, or can be, left up to interpretation etc.

We all remember hearing about studies and coffee being bad for people who've had heart attacks; now they say the opposite. Same thing about eggs and how "unhealthy" they were; then the gears shifted again.

For now I'll keep breathing that steroid......

(I just checked my mail for Alerts and found a piece on this issue as well. Extracting from what I read at PharmaLive..." In their report, the researchers noted that the admission rate for pneumonia increased with higher doses of inhaled steroids and that reduction in risk was observed once the medications were stopped. Among all patients taking inhaled steroids, there was a 53 percent increase in pneumonia deaths within 30 days of being admitted to the hospital. " )

I wonder what they mean by "higher doses"

The full article .... www.pharmalive.com:80/News/index.cfm?articleid=458204&categoryid=40

[larrynz]

I think these things are best brought into an open forum like ours, we can talk about them and make a more informed decision, I have taken Symbicort for 5 years now, it improves my quality of life as other inhaled steroids do for others. For me the choice is clear.
I doubt the study, makes no sense.

[cocojax]

What is Symbicort, is the same as Advair?

[larrynz]

Ellen here is a bit about it, different to Advair.

Symbicort provides the inhaled corticosteroid budesonide (Pulmicort) and the rapid and long-acting bronchodilator formoterol (Oxis) in a single inhaler (Turbuhaler).

Symbicort is indicated for the maintenance treatment of asthma in adults and children aged 6 years and above, where the combination of an inhaled corticosteroid and a long-acting beta 2- agonist is appropriate. Symbicort is the only inhaled steroid/bronchodilator combination inhaler that enables asthma patients to adjust their dose to control the natural variations in their disease.

Symbicort received European Mutual Recognition for the treatment of asthma in December 2000 and is now approved as an asthma treatment in almost 80 countries worldwide.

In February 2003, Symbicort received European Mutual Recognition for the treatment of patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and a history of repeat exacerbations, whose disease cannot be controlled using long-acting bronchodilators alone. Symbicort was the first combination inhaler to achieve this important indication.

[cocojax]

Thanks Larry, I take Advair puffer, I used to be on the diskus but bothered my throat too much, and could not inhale enough.

[LindaNY]

It's my belief that symbicort just became approved for use here in the states and I plan to ask my doctor about using it.

Right now I do use Pulmicort, Spiriva and Foradil.

My feeling is if it's not broken, don't fix it. This works for me.

[larrynz]

It should suit you well Linda, tests show the two combined ingredients work much better than separate like you take now.

[LindaNY]

Thanks Larry. I do plan to ask him about it when I go back.