アブストラクト | BACKGROUND: Whether inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) reduce major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is debated. OBJECTIVES: To establish, within people with COPD, (1) whether ICS reduced MACE rates (acute coronary syndrome (ACS), heart failure (HF), ischaemic strokes or cardiovascular-specific death) compared with long-acting bronchodilators; and (2) whether drug class, incident usership or patient cardiovascular history influenced the ICS-MACE relationship. METHODS: We conducted a cohort study including patients with COPD in England, using Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum data, linked with Hospital Episode Statistics and Office of National Statistics death data, between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2019. We implemented Cox proportional hazard regressions, adjusting for time interactions or using propensity score-adjusted models, as necessary. Our exposures included prescriptions of any ICS (vs any long-acting bronchodilators) and triple therapy (vs combination long-acting bronchodilators), determined during the year prior to follow-up. The outcomes of interest were MACE collectively and individual MACE subtypes. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Among 113 353 people with COPD (mean age 67.9 years old, 53.3% male), ICS prescription was not associated with MACE (adjusted HR (95% CI)=0.98 (0.95, 1.02), p=0.41) but was associated with reduced HF, specifically, until year 6 of follow-up (average adjusted HR (95% CI)=0.91 (0.86, 0.96), p<0.001). HF reduction was driven by the ICS group containing mometasone furoate, beclomethasone, budesonide or ciclesonide (HR (95% CI)=0.89 (0.84, 0.94), p<0.001). Incident ICS use was associated with increased ACS (HR (95% CI)=1.27 (1.09, 1.47), p<0.001) but was not sustained beyond incident use. There was no association between triple therapy and MACE. Results did not differ by cardiovascular history. CONCLUSIONS: ICS did not reduce MACE, except HF, likely by reducing misclassified COPD exacerbations. |