Lung disease treatment may prevent heart attacks

　　Inhaled corticosteroids, drugs used to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), were found to be associated with a reduction in the risk of acute myocardial infarction, according to investigators at McGill University in Montreal led by Samy Suissa. Their findings, published in the April issue of the ERJ, show that low doses of these drugs used by patients with COPD may reduce the risk of acute myocardial infarction by 30%.

　　COPD, characterised by slowly progressive and mostly irreversible airflow limitation, is the fourth leading cause of death in the USA and Europe. COPD patients are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease.

　　Inhaled corticosteroids, drugs that target the inflammatory component of COPD, may also affect the inflammation present in the development of cardiovascular disease.

　　The McGill University team looked at a cohort of 5,648 COPD patients identified using the Canadian province of Saskatchewan's universal health insurance programme. During an 8-year follow-up, 371 of these patients incurred an acute myocardial infarction.

　　The authors found that the use of inhaled corticosteroids was generally associated with an 18% reduction in the risk of acute myocardial infarction and a significant 32% reduction with lower doses.

　　The authors conclude that inhaled corticosteroids may lower the inherently elevated risk of heart attacks in patients with COPD.

　　This potential unintended benefit of inhaled corticosteroids should be verified further using randomised controlled trials.