Omalizumab treatment improves asthma control and overall quality of life in patients with severe asthma and COPD, according to a study in Chest.

Steven Maltby, PhD, and colleagues from the Australian Xolair Registry compared treatment responses in individuals with asthma-COPD overlap to those with asthma alone. Patients were assessed at baseline and 6 months post-treatment. The investigators compared participants with post-bronchodilator FEV1 <80% predicted to >80% predicted.

Omalizumab treatment markedly improved asthma control and health-related quality of life in all populations assessed, according to ACQ-5 and AQLQ questionnaire scores, the researchers reported. However, the drug did not improve lung function in patients enriched with asthma-COPD overlap.

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“Our study suggests that omalizumab improves asthma control and health related quality of life in individuals with severe allergic asthma and overlapping COPD,” the authors wrote. “These findings provide real-world efficacy data for this patient population and suggest omalizumab is useful in the management of severe asthma with COPD overlap.”

Reference

  1. Maltby S, Gibson PG, Powell HG, McDonald VM. Omalizumab Treatment Response in a Severe Allergic Asthma Population with Overlapping COPD. Chest. October 2016. doi:10.1016/j.chest.2016.09.035

Topics:

Asthma Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease