title: Prevention of COPD exacerbations: medications and other controversies.
abstract: Exacerbations have significant impact on the morbidity and mortality of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Most guidelines emphasise prevention of exacerbations by treatment with long-acting bronchodilators and/or anti-inflammatory drugs. Whereas most of this treatment is evidence-based, it is clear that patients differ regarding the nature of exacerbations and are likely to benefit differently from different types of treatment. In this short review, we wish to highlight this, suggest a first step in differentiating pharmacological exacerbation prevention and call for more studies in this area. Finally, we wish to highlight that there are perhaps easier ways of achieving similar success in exacerbation prevention using nonpharmacological tools.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, Institute of Inflammation and Repair, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Jørgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vestbo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hvidovre University Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lange