ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the effect of roxithromycin on airway inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD) patients at stable phase to provide evidence for the clinical diagnosis and treatment .Methods:Totally 46 cases of outpatients with stable COPD were divided into the observation group and the control group .The control group received the conventional treatment , while the observation group was treated with roxithromycin capsules 150mg.d-1 additionally, and the treatment course was 10 months. The sputum, serum cytokines γ-IFN, IL-8 and TNF-αlevels, sputum leukocyte , neutrophil count and adverse reactions were observed and compared between the groups .Results:After the 5-month treatment, the levels of γ-IFN, IL-8 and TNF-αcytokines in serum and sputum in the observation group were significantly lower than those before the treatment (P<0.05) and in the control group (P<0.05).After the 10-month treatment, the above indices in the observation were further decreased when compared with those after the 5-month treatment (P<0.05), which were notably lower than those in the control group (P<0.05).There was only one case of ad-verse drug reactions in the observation group , and the patient was out of the study .Conclusion:Long-term use of roxithromycin at low dose can reduce cytokines in serum and sputum and inflammatory cell count in sputum in stable COPD patients , which exhibits the effect on airway inflammation to some extent .