Short-term responses to high-dose inhaled corticosteroid treatment in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease having a fractional nitric oxide concentration over 35 parts per billion: a single-center pre-post study

Background: There is currently no strategy to identify chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients whose pulmonary function could benefit from inhaled corticosteroids. This study investigates whether a 28-day regime of inhaled corticosteroids improves pulmonary function test results among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients having a fractional exhaled nitric oxide concentration > 35 parts per billion. Methods: This was a single-center one-arm pre–post trial. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with a fractional exhaled nitric oxide concentration > 35 parts per billion treated at our institution from September 2018 to August 2019 were included. Each patient was administered budesonide (200 μg, 8 puffs daily) for 28 days. The primary outcome measure was the difference between the values of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) at baseline and 28 days after inhaled corticosteroid initiation. Secondary outcomes included differences of Chronic Obstructi..., , ,