Effect of Treatment with Mucoactive Drugs on COPD Exacerbations During 5 years of Follow-up in the Czech Republic: A Real-World Study.

Introduction: Studies indicate that chronic treatment with mucoactive drugs may reduce COPD exacerbation rates. This real-world, multicenter, prospective, observational study aimed to determine the effect of long-term mucoactive treatment on exacerbations in patients with COPD in the Czech Republic.

Methods: 452 adult patients on the Czech Multicenter Research Database of COPD with post-bronchodilator FEV₁ ≤ 60% of predicted value received standard of care and were followed up for 5 years. For the first 24 months, 81 patients received regular thiol-based mucoactive drugs (77 erdosteine, 4 N-acetylcysteine) at the discretion of the treating physician and 371 patients had no mucoactive treatment (control group). Erdosteine was fully reimbursed, and NAC was partially reimbursed for COPD patients. The annual number/rate of COPD exacerbations over 5 years was monitored.

Results: Patients receiving mucoactive treatment for 24 months had a significantly larger reduction from baseline in all exacerbations compared to the control group (- 0.61 vs - 0.18, p = 0.026; - 0.54 vs - 0.09, p = 0.007; - 0.55 vs 0.04, p = 0.005; - 0.67 vs 0.13, p = 0.002; - 0.53 vs 0.10, p = 0.019 in the first to fifth year, respectively). The reduction in moderate exacerbations was also significantly larger in those receiving mucoactive treatment versus no mucoactive treatment. The exacerbation rate was reduced to a greater extent in the subgroups with cough or with stage 3‒4 COPD who received mucoactive treatment but was independent of the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS).

Conclusion: Mucoactive treatment for two years reduced the number of COPD exacerbations (all, moderate) over five years of follow-up. The reduction in exacerbations was more pronounced in patients with cough or with stage 3‒4 COPD but was independent of the use of ICS.