Zeng Z, et al. – The researchers carried out a systematic review and meta–analysis to determine the efficacy of carbocisteine as a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). They suggested that long–term use of carbocisteine (500 mg TID) might be related to lower exacerbation rates, the smaller number of patients with at least one exacerbation and higher quality of life of patients with COPD.

Methods

• For the purpose of this study, the researchers looked through the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) following electronic bibliographic databases: MedLine, Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of Science.
• They additionally searched gray literature database: OpenSIGLE.
• They also additionally searched the clinical trial registers: ClinicalTrials.gov register and International Clinical Trials Registry Platform Search Portal.
• RCTs were used to assess the efficacy of the treatments.
• Studies of adults (older than 18 years) with COPD were included.
• Studies that were published as protocol or written in non-English language (Number 42016047078) were excluded.

Results

• The discoveries included data from 4 studies including one thousand three hundred fifty seven patients.
• It was observed in the findings that there was a decline in the risk of the rate of total number of exacerbations with carbocisteine compared with placebo (-0.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.57, -0.29, P<0.01).
• The findings suggested that carbocisteine could also improve the quality of life (-6.29; 95% CI -9.30, -3.27) and lessen the number of patients with at least one exacerbation (0.86; 95% CI 0.78, 0.95) compared with placebo.
• Notably, there was no significant difference in the FEV₁ and adverse effects and the rate of hospitalization.