A Concise Workup of COPD E James Britt

A Concise Workup of COPD E. James Britt, MD Common diseases are common 3 rd leading cause of mortality COPD is overlooked Women > men but underdiagnosed Core w/u is simple We will quickly outline an office eval We will review goals of therapy, and how and what goals can be met today

Natural History of COPD (Fletcher and Peto) Never smoked or not susceptible to smoke 100 Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 Second (FEV 1) [% of Value at Age 25] 75 50 Smoke regularly and susceptible to its effects Stopped at age 45 Disability 25 0 Stopped at age 65 Death 25 * 50 * 75 Age (Years) * Death due to irreversible chronic obstructive lung disease. Reprinted with permission from Fletcher C, Peto R. The natural history of chronic airflow obstruction. Br Med J. 1977; 1(6077): 1645 -1648

COPD Mortality in the United States Absolute No. Deaths per 100, 000 70 Not What You Would Suspect? 1980 -2000 Men 60 Women 50 40 30 20 10 0 1985 1990 1995 Year Mannino et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2002; 51(SS-6): 1 -16. 2000

Questioning a patient thought to have COPD Cough, SOB, Chest Pain • Smoker? • Childhood allergies, asthma? • SOB: – House/apartment, 1 -3 floors? – Up/down at will; once daily; ask others? – Yard work, laundry, mail, daily errands, trapped? – Arm work? – Nocturnal attacks? • Hospital or ER? • Medication Review

Criteria for Diagnosis of COPD • Clinical history – Exposure: smoke, other – Symptoms: cough, sputum, dyspnea • Functional assessment – – Spirometry (FEV 1, forced vital capacity [FVC], and FEV 1/FVC ratio) Oxygenation Lung volumes Diffusion capacity • Anatomic assessment – Chest x-ray – High resolution CT scan Pauwels RA, et al, on behalf of the GOLD Scientific Committee. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001; 163: 1256 -1276.

Prognosis of Airways Obstruction in Tuscon >age 65

Pharmacologic RX of COPD • • Short Acting Bronchodilators Long Acting Maintanance Drugs Supplemental Medications Meds to Rx Exacerbations Meds to Prevent Exacerbations Medications to Preserve Lung Function Medications to Reduce Mortality

Short Acting Bronchodilators • Beta Agonist Family – Pro Air; Proventil; Ventolin; Albuterol; Xopinex $40 -$45 • Anticholinergic Family – Atrovent, • Combination – Combivent; Respimat $210

Long Acting Bronchodilators • Anticholinergics – Tiotropium; Aclidinium $250 • Beta Agonists Salmeterol, Formoterol, Indacaterol $250 • Steroid/Beta Agonist Combinations – Advair 250/50; Salmeterol 160/4. 5 $250

Supplemental Medications • Theophylline

Theophylline 1 • If response to initial anticholinergic/ 2 -agonist therapy suboptimal, consider adding theophylline • Long-acting formulations generally preferred – Modest bronchodilation, mild anti-inflammatory effects • Useful for noncompliant patients and those who have trouble with inhalation aerosols and those preferring oral drugs 1. NCAP. J Respir Dis. 2000; 21(suppl): S 5 -S 21.

Medications to Prevent Exacerbations • Rofumulast $300 • Azithromycin

PD 4 Inhibitors-Roflumilast • Six and Twelve month data document decreased exacerbations in a COPD cohort with recurrent exacerbations of chronic bronchitis and use of inhalled glucorticoids • Limited by headache, nausea, diarrhea and weight loss • **Never gone head-head against theophylline • Many in pipeline…special interest in inhalled

Azithromycin and COPD • COPD consortium: UMMD/Scharf (Albert) • 250 mg AZ/d 570 patients • Time to Exacerbation extended by 92 days – Placebo=174 d – Risk Rate • Placebo=1. 83/yr Az=266 d Az=1. 48/yr • Limited by ototoxicity, cardiac toxicity, drug-drug toxicity

Recommendation for Azithromycin Use in COPD • • >= 2 exacerbation/yr Compliant patient Pulse <100 QT<450 msec. SGOT/SGPT < 3 X normal No QT drugs Hearing OK, Audiogram ? Exclude high cardiac risk patient

Principal of Mix & Match Combination therapy • My role here is that of a shopping assistant really recommending ways in which a patient may mix and match medications to achieve goals…challenging given the $$ involved

Escalating Menu of Choices A moderate to severe patient • • • Long acting anticholinergic Steroid/Long act beta agonist Long acting beta agonist Short acting rescue drug Preventitave drug $260 $250 $120 $ 50 $300

Prevention of Relapse • Tiotropium and two Steroid/beta agonist maintanance inhalers have secondary endpoint claims from large long-term studies. • Additional preventative strategies were reviewed

Preservation of Lung function • No major studies document preservation of lung function at this time. It remains the elusive goal.

Statins • Observations – Diminished decline in PFT – Decreased ER & H documented • COPD Consortium: STATSCOPE – 3 yr 1000 participants – ? Direct effect on COPD – ? Indirect benefit thru heart disease

Improve exercise performance • Both long acting anticholinergics and long acting beta agonists have data that show increased esercise time and or endurance oner two months of regular use likely thru the lung volume reduction effect

ACP Clinical Practice Guidelines COPD • • • Spirometry to dx airflow obstruction, but not to screen Stable FEV 1 60 -80% bronchodilators MAY be used Stable FEV 1 <60% monotherapy with long act bd FEV 1<60% Rx LAMA or LABA patient pref, cost, adverse event profile May adm combination rx for symptomatic pts Rehab for <50% FEV 1 O 2 for resting hypoxemia, usual guidelines