Potential Drawbacks of ICS/LABA/LAMA Triple Fixed-Dose Combination Therapy in the Treatment of Asthma: A Quantitative Synthesis of Safety Profile

INTRODUCTION: Inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting β(2)-adrenoceptor agonist/long-acting muscarinic antagonist (ICS/LABA/LAMA) fixed-dose combination (FDC) is currently recommended as controller option at asthma Step 4 and as preferred treatment at asthma Step 5, but no research investigated the potential drawbacks of this therapeutic option in a large asthmatic population. Thus, the aim of this study was to quantify the potential drawbacks of triple FDC therapy in asthma. METHODS: A pairwise meta-analysis was performed according to PRISMA-P guidelines to assess the risk of overall serious adverse events (SAEs), cardiovascular SAEs, and pneumonia reported as SAE in asthmatic patients treated with ICS/LABA/LAMA FDC vs ICS/LABA FDC. A pooled analysis was performed to calculate the frequency of SAEs. RESULTS: Data from 7204 asthmatic patients were extracted from the CAPTAIN, IRIDIUM, TRIMARAN, and TRIGGER studies. Triple FDC vs ICS/LABA FDC did not increase the risk of total SAEs (RR 0.99 95% CI 0.83–1.18) and cardiac SAEs (RR 0.74 95% CI 0.39–1.40), whereas the sensitivity analysis performed to resolve heterogeneity resulted in increased risk of vascular SAEs (RR 3.23 95% CI 1.05–9.90, P<0.05). The level of ICS dose did not modulate the risk of pneumonia, in any case pneumonia was the most frequent SAE (0.57%). These results were not affected by significant risk of bias. CONCLUSION: Triple FDC is a safe pharmacological therapy in severe asthmatic patients; it is characterized by a favourable safety profile and few potential drawbacks, namely, the increased risk of vascular SAEs, that certainly are worthy of future investigations.