A previous meta-analysis suggested that the treatment with
erdosteine was associated with significant amelioration of the cumulative global efficacy index and symptoms in comparison to placebo or other
mucolytics. However, this conclusion was criticized because the meta-analysis, as it had been done, made it impossible to preclude the potential operation of selection biases within and across trials, and identify any realised benefits of an individual patient data approach. Taking into consideration these criticisms and also the publication of two further recent articles focused on the prevention of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (
COPD) exacerbations with
erdosteine, we have carried out a quantitative synthesis via meta-analysis of the currently available data on the use of this
drug. Our findings included data from ten studies involving 1278 patients and show that
erdosteine is able to improve the clinical score of patients with
chronic bronchitis and
COPD, and also reduces the overall risk of
chronic bronchitis/
COPD exacerbations, and reduces the risk of experiencing at least one exacerbation. Furthermore, our data suggest that
erdosteine can lengthen the time to the first
COPD exacerbation, reduce the duration of a
COPD exacerbation and the risk of hospitalization from
COPD. The documented effect of
erdosteine in reducing the occurence and/or influencing
COPD exacerbations is important because it indicates that
erdosteine can be added to the list of drugs that can be recommended for treating
COPD.