Identifying azithromycin responders with an individual treatment effect model in COPD.

Journal: Thorax
Published Date: Jul 3, 2025

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Long-term azithromycin treatment effectively prevents acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, patients would benefit from better identification of responders and non-responders to minimise unnecessary exposure. We aimed to assess treatment effect heterogeneity and estimate individual treatment effects (ITEs) to distinguish patients most likely to benefit from prophylactic treatment.

Authors

  • Kenneth Verstraete
    Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Dept of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Ageing, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
  • Iwein Gyselinck
    Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Department of Chronic Diseases Metabolism and Ageing, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
  • Helene Huts
    Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery (BREATHE), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
  • Remco Stuart Djamin
    Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Amphia Hospital, Breda, The Netherlands.
  • Michael Staes
    Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Department of Chronic Diseases Metabolism and Ageing, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
  • Sander Talman
    Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Amphia Hospital, Breda, The Netherlands.
  • Sarah Lindberg
    Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
  • Menno van der Eerden
    Department of Respiratory Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
  • Maarten De Vos
    STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics-Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. maarten.devos@kuleuven.be.
  • Wim Janssens

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