Effect of sequential treatment with syndrome differentiation on acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and "AECOPD Risk-Window": study protocol for a randomized placebo-controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Frequent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation is a major cause of hospital admission and mortality. It has been reported that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) may relieve COPD symptoms and reduce the incidence of COPD exacerbations, thus improving life quality of COPD patients. The acute exacerbation of COPD risk-window (AECOPD-RW) is the period after an exacerbation and before the patient returns to baseline. In the AECOPD-RW, patients are usually at increased risk of a second exacerbation, which may lead to hospital admission and high mortality. It may be beneficial for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) patients to receive interventions during AECOPD-RW. During exacerbations the treatment principle is to eliminate exogenous pathogens, whereas the AECOPD-RW treatment principle focuses on enhancing body resistance. METHODS/DESIGN: A prospective, multi-center, single-blinded, double-dummy and randomized controlled clinical trial is being conducted to test the therapeutic effects of a sequential two stage treatment, which includes eliminating pathogen and strengthening vital qi with syndrome differentiation. A total of 364 patients will be enrolled in this study with 182 in each treatment group (TCM and control). Patients received medication (or control) according to their assigned group. TCM for AECOPD were administered twice daily to patients with AECOPD over 7 to 21 days, followed by TCM for AECOPD-RW over 28 days. All patients were followed for six months. The clinical symptoms, the modified medical research council dyspnea (MMRC) scale and exacerbations were used as the primary outcome measures. Pulmonary function, quality of life and mortality rate were used as secondary outcome measures. DISCUSSION: It is hypothesized that sequentially eliminating pathogens and strengthening vital qi treatments with syndrome differentiation will have beneficial effects on reducing the frequency and duration of acute exacerbation, relieving symptoms and improving quality of life for COPD patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, ChiCTR-TRC-11001460.