Steroid Resistance During COPD Exacerbations With Respiratory Failure

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease caused by cigarette smoke that affects millions of people. In the United States, COPD is the 3rd leading cause of death making it one of our most important public health problems. Some people with COPD get disease flares that are called acute exacerbations of COPD - or AECOPDs for short. When people get an AECOPD they experience increased shortness of breath, wheezing and cough; symptoms that often require urgent or emergent treatment by healthcare providers. In the most severe, life-threatening situations, people with AECOPDs are put on a ventilator in the emergency department and admitted to the intensive care unit. Most AECOPDs can be treated with low doses of medications called steroids. This is good because high doses of steroids can cause unwanted side effects. Unfortunately, recent studies suggest that the sickest people, those admitted to the intensive care unit needing ventilator support, need higher doses of steroids because they may have resistance to these important medications. The investigators are studying steroid resistance during very severe AECOPDs so that we can eventually develop better and safer therapies for these vulnerable people.