27 in an outpatient

study of the efficacy of antibiotics in acute exacerbation of mild-to-moderate COPD demonstrated that amoxicillin-clavulanate is associated with greater clinical success compared to placebo at the end-of-therapy visit (Days 9–11) for those with Anthonisen type II criteria click here (74.1% vs 59.9%, respectively; 95% CI of the difference in percentage of success 3.7–24.3%). This study showed that there are clear short-term benefits from antibiotics in an outpatient setting in patients without severe disease. 27 Based on these and previous studies, the short-term benefit in terms of clinical cure or success of about 13–15% above placebo is seen with antibiotic use. Interestingly, this magnitude of benefit is very similar to what is seen with systemic steroid use at exacerbation. Few studies have addressed whether antibiotic treatments have any enduring effects. This is due to the fact that most antibiotic studies only include follow

up for up to 21 days after the end-of-treatment.49, 50, 51, 52, 53 and 54 These follow-up periods are likely to be far too short to identify all relapses, since risk of relapse is highest in the 8-week period after the end-of-therapy.30 GSK-3 activation The effect of a single course of acute antibiotic treatment on longer-term outcomes has been examined in some studies, with patients being followed for between 8 weeks and 1 year.27, 28, 31, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61 Only one of these studies27 was placebo controlled, while the remainder were antibiotic comparison trials. In the placebo-controlled trial by Llor et al. discussed above, amoxicillin/clavulanate was associated with a significantly prolonged time to the next exacerbation during the long-term follow-up period (233 days vs 160 days; P < 0.05). 27 The antibiotic comparison trials are important also, as they demonstrate that antibiotic Resveratrol choice impacts on long-term outcomes in AE-COPD, specifically reducing clinical relapses, the need for additional antibiotics and prolonging the time to the next exacerbation. However, not all studies demonstrated differences in long-term outcomes

between antibiotic treatments. Antibiotic comparison trials where long-term outcomes of exacerbations were examined are summarised in Table 1. Comparison between these trials is difficult due to the fact that some enrolled patients with AE-COPD, while others involved patients with exacerbations of chronic bronchitis; patients included may, therefore, reflect different inflammatory sub-phenotypes and varying severity of airflow obstruction within COPD. 62 The endpoints employed and the demographic characteristics of the study populations also varied between studies. For example, in the study reporting the longest follow-up period of one year, patients receiving antibiotic treatment with either levofloxacin or clarithromycin experienced a mean exacerbation-free interval of more than 300 days.