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Antibiotic Therapy In Preventing Exacerbations Of Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Jamie Trautner

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive disease that has no cure but is treatable. The treatment goal is to have adequate symptom control, decreased exacerbations, prevent hospitalizations and maintain an independent quality of life. The above are attainable by lifestyle changes and pharmacotherapy. The review of literature is to determine if the benefits of long-term antimicrobial therapy outweigh the risks in the treatment of severe COPD. The search included PubMed, Cochrane and Clinical Key databases. Keywords searched include: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, antibiotics, macrolides, antibacterial, azithromycin, bronchodilators, standard therapy, COPD exacerbations, adverse effects, and long-term. The gold standard …