SLOWING THE DECLINE OF QUALITY OF LIFE

Over the course of the disease, patients with COPD usually experience a decline in quality of life. Inhaled steroids may reduce the pace with which quality of life declines in patients with COPD.

One way of interpreting quality of life changes is to look at the time needed for patients to experience a decline in quality of life large enough for patients to consider it important. One clinical study has shown, that for patients with COPD who do not use inhaled steroids this period is 15 months. Using inhaled steroids will prolong this time period by 9 months to 24 months and, thus, will delay worsening of quality of life.

The next pages will describe the risks associated with using inhaled steroids.