Indacaterol on dyspnea in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials

BACKGROUND: Indacaterol is a novel, once-daily (od), inhaled, long-acting ß(2)-agonist bronchodilator for maintenance treatment of airflow limitation in patients with COPD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of indacaterol on dyspnea, using available randomized placebo-controlled trials. METHODS: A systematic search was made of MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane trials databases, and a manual search of journals. Randomized placebo-controlled trials of 12 weeks or more comparing indacaterol with placebo were reviewed, and eligible studies were included in a meta-analysis. The odds ratio (OR) for likelihood of achieving TDI score ≥ 1 after 12 weeks of treatment was used as an outcome measure to compare indacaterol to placebo. RESULTS: Six trials were included in the analysis. Relative to placebo, the overall ORs for response were: indacaterol 75 μg od 1.784 (95% CI 1.282 to 2.482); indacaterol 150 μg od 2.149 (95% CI 1.746 to 2.645); and indacaterol 300 μg od 2.458 (95% CI 2.010 to 3.006). Overall OR for response in TDI tended to increase with higher indacaterol doses. CONCLUSIONS: Patients receiving indacaterol had clinically significant improvements in symptoms of dyspnea compared to placebo. Incremental benefits in TDI were observed with increasing doses. Indacaterol may provide patients and physicians with a useful treatment option in symptomatic patients with dyspnea.