Oral Prednisolone in Severe Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2013-06-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Evaluation of systematic administration of oral prednisolone (1mg/Kg/day) as an add on
therapy in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients admitted to intensive care
unit (ICU) for severe exacerbation of COPD. Patients with pneumonia are excluded.
Randomization is stratified according to ventilatory support: non invasive or conventional
ventilation.The major outcome is the ICU mortality rate in overall population and stratified
according to ventilatory mode (noninvasive ventilation (NIV) versus conventional).
Secondary outcomes are superinfection necessitating a new antibiotic course, Length of
mechanical ventilation (MV) (and ventilatory free days), Length of ICU stay, The frequency of
gastric bleeding episodes that of frequency of hyperglycemic episodes.