No statistically significant reduction in the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation was observed among patients with COPD receiving acetazolamide compared with placebo, according to the results from a multicenter study.

Researchers evaluated 380 patients with COPD (mean age, 69 years; 71.6% men) from 15 intensive care units in France who received 500 mg to 1,000 mg of acetazolamide two times daily or placebo between 2011 and 2014.

The researchers observed no significant difference for median duration of mechanical ventilation, daily changes of minute-ventilation, partial carbon dioxide pressure in the arterial blood  or duration of time for weaning off mechanical ventilation between groups, according to the abstract.