REVIEW ARTICLE Management of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with Combination Inhaled Corticosteroids and Long- Acting b-Agonists: A Review of Comparative Effectiveness

The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract The value of combination therapy with inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting b-agonists (ICS/LABA) is well recognized in the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Despite differ-ences in the pharmacological properties between two well-established ICS/LABA products (budesonide/formoterol and fluticasone/salmeterol), data from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses suggest that these two products perform similarly under RCT conditions. In con-trast, a few recently reported real-world comparative effectiveness studies have suggested that there are sub-stantial differences between ICS/LABA combination treatments in terms of clinical and healthcare outcomes in patients with asthma or COPD. The purpose of this articl