Chest
Clinical InvestigationsCOPDErythromycin and Common Cold in COPD
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
We prospectively compared the rate and number of common colds and exacerbations in COPD patients treated with erythromycin with those in COPD patients who did not receive erythromycin therapy. All patients fulfilled the criteria for COPD of the American Thoracic Society.8 We excluded patients with bronchiectasis or diffuse panbronchiolitis from the study. COPD patients participating in this study were treated with sustained-release theophylline and inhaled anticholinergic agents but did not
Results
None of the patients in either group died during the study period. In the erythromycin group, one patient experienced anorexia and diarrhea during the observation period and was excluded from the study. The rest of the patients in the erythromycin group did not have any apparent adverse effects from erythromycin therapy during the study period.
The two groups did not differ in age, sex, vital capacity, FEV1, Pao2, or Paco2 (Table 1). The number of common colds for 12 months was significantly
Discussion
Acute respiratory infections long have been viewed by clinicians as a particular problem for patients with COPD. Bacterial airway infections frequently followed by common colds produce exacerbations and sometimes life-threatening conditions in COPD patients.1 HRVs, the most common cause of the common cold, can cause exacerbations of asthma or COPD, presumably via the immune response to the infection.11 These exacerbations highlight the need for more effective means of preventing common colds in
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