Study description/purpose
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a disease that causes progressive narrowing of the air passages and results in breathing difficulty, cough and sputum. It is the third-leading cause of global health-related disease and deaths. Heart disease is very common in people who are diagnosed with COPD and accounts for up to 50% of hospital admissions and deaths from COPD. However, studies repeatedly show that heart disease in patients with COPD is often not diagnosed and when it is, it is often under-treated. As well, people with COPD and heart disease are often not included in clinical trials of drugs which can treat their heart disease.
The Preventing Adverse Cardiac Events (PACE) in COPD trial is being undertaken with a specific focus on the treatment of heart disease – whether diagnosed or not, in people with COPD. PACE will assess the benefit of a drug, bisoprolol which belongs to the medication class called Beta (β)-blockers, which are often used to treat heart disease. In the PACE study, we will be investigating whether pro-active treatment with bisoprolol in participants with COPD can reduce cardiac events, such as stroke and heart attacks from occurring in the future, compared to placebo. This is important for people with COPD with either known or unknown underlying heart disease. The study also aims to investigate whether this treatment reduces the number of episodes of respiratory exacerbations, admissions to hospital and deaths from COPD and heart disease.
This is a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial being conducted in many locations in Australia, New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka.
What’s involved
- Take medication daily – this will be either the study medication or placebo. The dose will be half, one or two tablets.
- Complete health-related questionnaires.
- Provide information on current medications.
- Have blood pressure, heart rate and breathing capacity measured at each visit.
