Lai CC, et al. - In this retrospective analysis, researchers used Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database to compare the risk and outcomes of sepsis among all patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who received either angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers for more than 90 days between 2000 and 2005. They performed pairwise matching (1:1) of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker groups, which resulted in two similar subgroups with 5,959 patients in each. With regard to sepsis occurrence, the rate was 3.67 per 100 person-years for the patients receiving angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and 2.87 per 100 person-years for those receiving angiotensin receptor blockers. Findings revealed lower rates of sepsis and mortality in association with the use of angiotensin receptor blockers vs angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Subgroup analysis also demonstrated similar findings.