Nebulizer Versus Dry Powdered Inhalers for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Drugs used to treat Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are available primarily in hand held inhaler devices that deliver dry powder (DPI), a soft mist or a metered dose of spray (MDI). The frail, arthritic elderly are often prescribed DPI rather than MDI or soft mist devices, because they require less coordination. DPIs however require the ability to inhale against a resistance with a peak inspiratory force (PIF) more negative than 60 L/min to break the dry powder into respirable particles. Preliminary data suggests that suboptimal PIF's are common during an acute exacerbation of COPD, affecting 48% of hospitalized patients, thus placing them at risk for treatment failure and possibly hospital readmission. Use of nebulizers to administer respiratory medications may avoid the hazards of insufficient dosing that can result from use of DPI however they are cumbersome, expensive and the variety of drugs available in a nebulizer format is limited. We hypothesize that patients treated in hospital and is charged on respiratory medications administered by nebulizers will exhibit better symptom control and lower COPD and all cause hospital readmission rates compared with patients treated with respiratory medications delivered by DPI. We aim to demonstrate that 1) patients treated and discharged on nebulized bronchodilators will have fewer readmissions to hospital at 30 and 90 days compared to the group utilizing DPI 2) that the nebulizer group will demonstrate a longer duration of time till hospital readmission for COPD and all cause readmission compared to the group utilizing DPI and 3) the nebulizer group will demonstrate better symptom control compared to the group utilizing DPI. This nonblinded feasibility (pilot) study will enroll 100 patients hospitalized for an exacerbation of COPD who are \> 40 years of age, have a clinical diagnosis of COPD. The study will consist of 3 outpatient visits (Transitional Care Visit \[314 days after discharge\], Visit #2 \[30 +/5 days after discharge\], and Visit #3 \[90 +/5 days after discharge\]). Visit #2 and #3 are for study purposes, the Transitional Care Visit is standard of care. We hypothesize and aim to demonstrate that patients treated in hospital and discharged on respiratory medications administered by nebulizers will exhibit better quality of life (QoL), symptom control and lower COPD and all cause hospital readmission rates compared with patients treated with respiratory medications delivered by DPI.