[Calculation of morbidity, use of resources and costs of patients treated with tiotropium bromide for COPD in a Spanish population]

Hyperglycaemia and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may coexist with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Patients with COPD have an increased risk of developing T2DM compared with a control but, on the other side, hyperglycaemia and DM have been associated with reduced predicted levels of lung function. The mechanistic relationships between these two diseases are complicated, multifaceted, and little understood, yet they can impact treatment strategy. The potential risks and benefits for patients with T2DM treated with pulmonary drugs and the potential pulmonary risks and benefits for patients with COPD when taking antidiabetic drugs should always be considered. The interaction between the presence and/or treatment of COPD, risk of infection, presence and/or treatment of T2DM and risk of acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPDs) can be represented as a vicious circle; however, several strategies may help to break this circle. The most effective approach to simultaneously treating T2DM and COPD is to interfere with the shared inflammatory substrate, thus targeting both lung inflammation (COPD) and vascular inflammation (DM). In any case, it is always crucial to establish glycaemic management since the reduction in lung function found in people with diabetes might decrease the threshold for clinical manifestations of COPD. In this article, we examine possible connections between COPD and T2DM as well as pharmacological strategies that could focus on these connections.

Cardiovascular diseases or type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic airway diseases: mutual pharmacological interferences

Chronic airway diseases (CAD), mainly asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are frequently associated with different comorbidities. Among them, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) pose problems for the simultaneous treatment of CAD and comorbidity. Indeed, there is evidence that some drugs used to treat CAD negatively affect comorbidity, and, conversely, some drugs used to treat comorbidity may aggravate CAD. However, there is also growing evidence of some beneficial effects of CAD drugs on comorbidities and, conversely, of the ability of some of those used to treat comorbidity to reduce the severity of lung disease. In this narrative review, we first describe the potential cardiovascular risks and benefits for patients using drugs to treat CAD and the potential lung risks and benefits for patients using drugs to treat CVD. Then, we illustrate the possible negative and positive effects on T2DM of drugs used to treat CAD and the potential negative and positive impact on CAD of drugs used to treat T2DM. The frequency with which CAD and CVD or T2DM are associated requires not only considering the effect that drugs used for one disease condition may have on the other but also providing an opportunity to develop therapies that simultaneously favorably impact both diseases.

Cost effectiveness of tiotropium for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review of the evidence

BACKGROUND

Tiotropium has been shown to reduce exacerbations and improve quality of life for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease characterized by a persistent and progressive airflow limitation.

OBJECTIVES

To present a systematic literature review of the cost effectiveness of treatment with tiotropium compared with other currently used treatments for COPD.

METHODS

A systematic search was performed via PubMed, the Cochrane database, and EMBASE from 2002 to 2009. Methods and results by study design and by country were compared.

RESULTS

Seventeen studies were included in the review. Study designs were characterized as follows: modeling based on clinical trial data, and empirical analysis based on either clinical trial or observational data. Comparing monotherapy regimens (12 studies), all study designs found that treatment with tiotropium was associated with lower costs for hospitalisation and other non-drug services. Total costs, including the costs of maintenance drugs, were lower with tiotropium in some, but not all, of the studies. Tiotropium was shown to be cost effective based on commonly accepted benchmark values. Limitations of the review included the wide variety of outcome measures used in different studies, the limited number of observational database studies for monotherapy, and limited data for combination therapy regimens.

CONCLUSIONS

The main conclusions of the economic evaluations derived from clinical trial data at the time of product approval and from later observational data reflecting clinical use are similar: use of tiotropium monotherapy is associated with lower hospital and other non-drug costs and better health outcomes and is either cost saving or cost effective compared with other maintenance monotherapies.

Health, treatment and health care resources consumption profile among Spanish adults with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

AIMS

To describe the health, treatment and health care resources consumption profile among Spanish adults with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and compare it with that of non-diabetic COPD patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

An observational and descriptive epidemiological study (EPIDEPOC study). The study included patients with stable COPD and aged > or =40 years, evaluated in primary care. Data were collected relating to sociodemographic variables, health profile, quality of life (SF-12), treatment and health care resources consumption. The results corresponding to diabetic and non-diabetic patients were compared.

RESULTS

A total of 10,711 patients (75.6% males) with COPD were evaluated. The prevalence of diabetes was 16.9%. The diabetic patients were significantly older, with a larger percentage of women, and a lesser educational level compared with the non-diabetic patients. In addition, the diabetics were more sedentary, smoked less, and presented a higher percentage of obesity (33.6% versus 19.7%) than the non-diabetic patients. The severity of airways obstruction was greater among the diabetics than in the non-diabetic patients (54.57+/-13.37% versus 57.92+/-13.39%, respectively, p<0.05). As to co-morbidity, the diabetics showed a greater frequency of arterial hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, heart disease, depression and anxiety. Both the physical and the mental component as measured by the SF-12 yielded significantly poorer results among the diabetics. On the other hand, the diabetic subjects showed a higher consumption of drugs for COPD. In addition, they consumed significantly more health care (and thus economical) resources than the non-diabetic patients. The results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the variables that were independently associated to COPD among diabetic patients were: higher age, higher BMI, concomitant chronic heart disease, use of inhaled corticoids, SF-12 mental component, SF-12 physical component and total cost of COPD.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of diabetes in patients with COPD shows in the bivariate analysis a more severe lung disease, greater co-morbidity, poorer quality of life, and a greater consumption of resources, as well as a less favorable course in the previous year. However, the multivariate logistic regression shows that the variables that are independently associated to COPD among diabetic patients are higher age, higher BMI, concomitant chronic heart disease, use of inhaled corticoids, physical and mental component of quality of life questionnaire and total cost of COPD.