Conditions: COPD Emphysema Chronic Bronchitis Smoking
Keywords: COPD emphysema angiotensin receptor blocker
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 106
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Evidence in animals shows that losartan can prevent or reverse inflammation and lung damage due to smoking. The goal of this study is to determine whether this drug which is also used to treat hypertension can stabilize or improve lung function in people who have from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Detailed description:
Participants will be given either losartan in a dose of 50-100 mg per day for a period of one year. During that time, they will have lung function tests, breathing tests, and computed tomograms of the chest. These tests will determine whether there is inflammation in the lung and whether there is progressive involvement of the lung with COPD.

Arms:
arm 1: Losartan 100 mg daily arm 2: Placebo 1 pill daily

Interventions: intervention 1: Losartan intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Losartan 100 mg daily intervention 2: Placebo pill daily

Protocol document: