Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Claudia Stey
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2002)

Letters2 April 2002Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary DiseaseClaudia Stey, MDClaudia Stey, MDUniversity Hospital Zurich; 8091 Zurich, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-136-7-200204020-00020 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:I read the position paper on acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with great interest (1, 2). The statement that mucolytic medications are not beneficial needs further comment. The authors failed to mention a Cochrane review that primarily discussed the preventive effect of mucolytic agents on exacerbations but also showed that mucolytic therapy was associated with a significant reduction in days of disability (0.65 day per patient per month) and days of treatment with antibiotics (0.68 day per patient per month) (3). Furthermore, the authors did not consider N-acetylcysteine, which is a thiol-containing substance that ...References1. Snow V, Lascher S, Mottur-Pilson C. Evidence base for management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Ann Intern Med. 2001;134:595-9. [PMID: 11281744] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Bach PB, Brown C, Gelfand SE, McCrory DC. Management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a summary and appraisal of published evidence. Ann Intern Med. 2001;134:600-20. [PMID: 11281745] LinkGoogle Scholar3. Poole PJ, Black PN. Mucolytic agents for chronic bronchitis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000:CD001287. [PMID: 10796634] Google Scholar4. Stey C, Steurer J, Bachmann S, Medici TC, Tramèr MR. The effect of oral N-acetylcysteine in chronic bronchitis: a quantitative systematic review. Eur Respir J. 2000;16:253-62. [PMID: 10968500] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Jadad AR, Moore RA, Carroll D, Jenkinson C, Reynolds DJ, Gavaghan DJ, et al . Assessing the quality of reports of randomized clinical trials: is blinding necessary? Control Clin Trials. 1996;17:1-12. [PMID: 8721797] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: University Hospital Zurich; 8091 Zurich, Switzerland PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoEvidence Base for Management of Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Vincenza Snow , Steven Lascher , Christel Mottur-Pilson , and Management of Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Summary and Appraisal of Published Evidence Peter B. Bach , Cynthia Brown , Sarah E. Gelfand , and Douglas C. McCrory Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Michael S. Niederman , Sanjay Sethi , and Fernando Martinez Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Vincenza Snow Metrics 2 April 2002Volume 136, Issue 7Page: 556-557KeywordsAntibioticsChronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseDisabilitiesDrugsSystematic reviews ePublished: 2 April 2002 Issue Published: 2 April 2002 CopyrightCopyright © 2002 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF DownloadLoading ...