Treating asthma or COPD with steroid inhaler increases the risk of hard-to-treat infections
Worldwide, asthma and COPD affect hundreds of thousands of people and they are commonly treated with steroid inhalers to reduce symptoms and improve lung function. However, the new study suggests that these inhalers also increase t he risk of lung infections caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria, which are notoriously difficult to treat and resistant to a number of common antibiotics. The research was led by Dr Sarah Brode, Assistant Professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada and a staff respirologist at the University Health Network and West Park Healthcare Centre. She explained: "These infections are not particularly common but they are chronic and difficult to treat, and are associated with an increased risk of death. Treatment typically requires at least three antibiotics given for longer than a year and this can still fail to tackle the infection." The study included 417,494 people with COPD o r asthma aged 66 and older, who had all been prescrib...