For COPD Exacerbations, 5 Days Corticosteroids As Good as 2+ Weeks COPD exacerbations -- worsening of shortness of breath and cough, often requiring medical treatment -- are a major problem for many people living with COPD. People with moderate or severe emphysema and chronic bronchitis (together called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) experience an average of 1-2 COPD exacerbations a year, often feeling poorly for weeks and sometimes requiring hospitalization. People with frequent exacerbations tend to have a faster decline in lung function; proper treatment, it's hoped, could help slow this deterioration, and improve hundreds of thousands of people's daily lives. But "proper treatment" for COPD exacerbations has never been definitively established. It's known that the anti-inflammatory effects of systemic corticosteroids (prednisone, prednisolone, methylprednisolone)