Men and women with moderate to severe COPD (as defined
in the 2008 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung
Disease [GOLD] guidelines) were eligible for enrolment in
the GLOW3 trial if they were aged $40 years, had a smoking
history of at least 10 pack-years, post-bronchodilator forced
expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) of ,80% and $40%
of predicted normal, and post-bronchodilator FEV1/forced
vital capacity (FVC) of ,70%.
Patients were not eligible for the study if they fulfilled
any of the following criteria: lower respiratory tract infection