Background: Current smokers with COPD have accelerated lung function decline compared with former smokers and never-smokers. About 30% of COPD patients continue to smoke.
Aims and objectives: To evaluate in a 3-year observational study the efficacy of triple therapy versus dual bronchodilation in current smokers patients with COPD. Outcome of the study was the variation of the functional parameters (FEV1, FVC, RV, TLC, IC, DLCO) after 3 years.
Methods: In a real life retrospective observational study, we enrolled 112 smokers COPD patients with stable inhalation therapy (54 patients in dual-therapy, 58 patients in triple therapy) from September 2018 to September 2022. All the patients underwent annual medical examination in stable disease and performed functional tests (spirometry).
Results: During the three year timeline, FEV1, FVC, and DLCO variation was significantly lower for smokers patients in triple therapy compared with the smokers patients in dual therapy. No differences were observed for other parameters, such as RV, TLC, IC (Figure).
Conclusion: We found out that triple therapy is more efficient in smokers patients with COPD in reducing lung function decline of FEV1, FVC and DLCO. Inhaled corticosteroid in smokers COPD patients could play an important role in preserving pulmonary gas exchange function (DLCO) over time through mechanisms yet to be investigated.