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Clinical guidelines recommend long-acting bronchodilators as first maintenance therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) reserved for patients with more severe disease and exacerbations. The aim of this analysis was to examine real-life prescribing of first maintenance therapy for COPD in the UK. Data were extracted from the UK Optimum Patient Care Research Database for patients with a first prescription for COPD maintenance therapy between 2009 and 2012 and a diagnosis of COPD at or before the date of the first prescription for COPD maintenance therapy. Routine clinical data including demographics, disease history and symptoms, comorbidities, therapy, hospitalisation rate and exacerbation rate were collected and used to characterise patients stratified by disease severity and Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) group (A–D). The analysis population included 2,217 individuals (55.4% male, 45.2% smokers). Long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMA) as monotherapy were prescribed as first maintenance therapy for 40.2% of patients. ICS were prescribed as ICS/long-acting beta-agonists combination for 29.1% of patients or as monotherapy for 15.5%. ICS (alone or in combination) were prescribed to >40% of patients in each GOLD group. ICS-containing regimens were prescribed to patients with a history of pneumonia and comorbid conditions for whom the risks of ICS therapy may outweigh the benefits. The clinical reality of prescribing indicates that ICS are often prescribed outside current guideline recommendations for many patients newly diagnosed with COPD in the UK. Encouragingly, LAMAs are increasingly being prescribed as first maintenance therapy for these patients.

First maintenance therapy for COPD in the UK between 2009 and 2012: a retrospective database analysis