Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) benefit patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at high risk of exacerbations with raised blood eosinophil count (BEC). Emerging evidence suggests current smokers show a reduced response to ICS. This post-hoc analysis of the FLAME trial explored the impact of smoking status on the efficacy of long-acting beta-2 agonist (LABA)+ICS versus LABA+long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) for preventing exacerbations. Our findings indicate that LABA+LAMA is superior to LABA+ICS in preventing moderate to severe exacerbations in current smokers and inferior in ex-smokers with BEC ≥200 cells/µL. Smoking status significantly modifies ICS treatment effects on exacerbation outcomes, suggesting reduced ICS efficacy in current smokers, regardless of BEC.
Keywords: COPD Exacerbations; COPD Pharmacology; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Smoking.
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