The place of inhaled corticosteroids in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a narrative review.

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) belong to the armament for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and as such, they are widely used in real life. This is a narrative review on evidence-based papers published in the English language listed in Medline between 1990 and March 2016 discussing ICS application in COPD. Recent meta-analyses clearly show that ICSs are able to decrease the rate of exacerbation and to delay the decline of lung function, although they do not prolong life, nor stop the progression of the disease. ICSs are included in guidelines for COPD treatment, exclusively in combination with bronch-15 odilators. However, adverse effects as pneumonia, cataracts, osteoporosis, etc. seem obvious. Newer studies show that patients with COPD are not a homogeneous population, and recently several phenotypes were identified, including asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS), among others. The efficacy of ICSs seems to be unequal for different subpopulations of patients with COPD and further research is needed to address a personalized approach in the treatment of COPD patients, and to 20 identify predictors for ICS treatment success. Usage of ICSs in patients with COPD needs to be précised especially in patients with COPD without asthma.