In a new study, researchers found that steroid inhalers could help reduce lung cancer risk in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD.
The research was done by a team from the University of British Columbia.
Many people with COPD use steroid inhalers every day to keep their airways open and help them to breathe.
Beta agonists, which work by relaxing muscles in the lungs to widen the airways, are the first choice of treatment for COPD.
But doctors often prescribe steroids, which reduce the number of inflammatory cells called eosinophils in the lungs.
In the current study, the team examined health data of 39,676 adults in British Columbia who were diagnosed with COPD.
Among these people, 994 people were later diagnosed with lung cancer.
The team compared outcomes for people who took inhaled steroids versus those who used beta agonists, another class of drugs used to treat COPD.
They found that people who had COPD and consistently used a steroid inhaler had much lower chances of getting lung cancer.
The cancer risk was reduced by 25% to 30% compared with people who took other treatments.
The findings show that it is important to find which patients may be at the highest risk for lung cancer and may benefit from therapy with inhaled steroids.
In the future, the researchers plan to do studies to understand how steroids reduce lung cancer risk in COPD patients.
The lead author of the study is Larry Lynd, a professor and associate member of the faculty of medicine.
The study is published in the European Respiratory Journal.
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