OnMedica – News – Use of inhaled steroids linked to reduced risk of lung cancer in patients with COPD

The study reveals that the risk of lung cancer was 30% lower in patients treated with inhaled steroids rather than beta-agonists

Patients who use steroidal inhalers to control chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may also reduce their risk of lung cancer by as much as 30%, a study * published in the European respiratory journal shows.

Researchers evaluated 10 years of medical and pharmaceutical data between 1997 and 2007 on 39,676 British adults in Canada with COPD, including 994 people, including lung cancer. They compared the results obtained in patients taking inhaled steroids compared to those using beta-agonists.

There were 994 (2.5%) cases of lung cancer during follow-up, and the use of steroids was badociated with a 30% reduction in the risk of lung cancer (HR: 0.70 (CI 95%: 0.61-0.80)).

"The results showed that if you had COPD and used a steroid inhaler on a regular basis, your chances of getting lung cancer were 25 to 30 percent lower than people taking other treatments," Larry said. Lynd, professor responsible for the collaboration. for Outcomes Research and Evaluation of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia and Associate Member of the Faculty of Medicine.

COPD is a group of diseases, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, that impede the circulation of air in the lungs and cause severe long-term disability and premature death. Although there is no cure, treatments can help manage the disease.

"In Canada alone, more than 700,000 people have been diagnosed with COPD," said Don Sin, co-author of the study, professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia and holder of the Canada Research Chair in COPD.

"These results underscore how important it is to identify patients who have the highest risk of lung cancer and who can benefit from inhaled steroid treatment."

The study is limited by the fact that it relies on administrative data, which limits the scope of data available for badysis, and the fact that COPD diagnosis was based solely on prescription files. For the next phase of this research, researchers plan to conduct studies to understand how steroids reduce the risk of lung cancer in patients with COPD.

"There is clearly a need for further work to understand the exact nature of the relationship between lung cancer risks and the use of steroids," Lynd said.

"In the coming months, we will discover which COPD patients would benefit the most from inhaled steroids."

* A.J.N. Raymakers, M. Sadatsafavi, D.D. Sin et al. Inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of lung cancer in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a population-based cohort study. European Respiratory Journal, 2019; DOI: 10.1183 / 13993003.01257-2018