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Acute and short-term effect of an extra dose of formoterol in COPD patients
Respiratory Medicine, 04/23/2012
Clinical Article
Studart FS et al. – An extra daily dose of formoterol inhaled 8 h after a previous dose could result in an acute additional peak of bronchodilation. However, short–term formoterol t.i.d. showed no advantages over formoterol b.i.d. concerning reduction of hyperinflation in resting lung function.
Methods- 56 hyperinflated COPD patients were divided into two groups: F2 and F3.
- Basal evaluation was carried out after 5 days of formoterol washout.
- In order to evaluate the acute effect, spirometry and body plethysmography were performed 8 h after the first formoterol dose in both groups and repeated 1 h after an additional formoterol dose (F3) or placebo (F2).
- The short–term effect was evaluated by measuring the resting lung function after a 14–day period of formoterol t.i.d. (F3) or formoterol b.i.d. + placebo (F2).
- A second formoterol dose inhaled 8 h after the previous dose promoted additional improvements in lung function, as demonstrated by higher IC (118 ± 140 mL, p < 0.001) and lower functional residual capacity (FRC) (–383 ± 367 mL, p < 0.001).
- On day 15, the mean differences from baseline regarding all lung function variables were similar between the groups.