Morphine has been used to treat people with COPD and severe, long term breathlessness for many years. A new study has shown that it is an effective treatment for this condition.
The study, which was published in the journal Thorax, looked at the use of morphine in people with COPD who were admitted to hospital with a exacerbation of their condition. The study found that those who received morphine had a significantly higher rate of improvement in their breathing compared to those who did not receive the drug.
Morphine is a highly effective painkiller and has a long history of use in treating people with chronic lung conditions. The new study provides further evidence of its efficacy in treating people with COPD and severe, long term breathlessness.
A new study has found that a short-term course of oral morphine can help to improve quality of life for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who experience severe, long-term breathlessness.
The study, which is published in the Thorax journal, recruited 106 patients with COPD and severe, long-term breathlessness who were currently taking a stable dose of inhaled bronchodilators and corticosteroids.
Patients were randomly assigned to either receive a two-week course of oral morphine or a placebo. The primary endpoint of the study was the change in the patient’s score on the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) from baseline to two weeks.
The results showed that patients who received oral morphine had a significantly greater improvement in their SGRQ score than those who received the placebo (-11.1 units vs -4.8 units, p=0.001).
Patients in the oral morphine group also reported a significant improvement in their Borg Dyspnea Score (-1.4 units vs -0.7 units, p=0.02) and their London Chest Activity of Daily Living score (-1.6 units vs -0.8 units, p=0.03) at two weeks.
There were no serious adverse events reported in the study.
The authors conclude that a short-term course of oral morphine can provide a clinically meaningful improvement in quality of life for patients with COPD and severe, long-term breathlessness.
