Abstract
Background and objective: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) face an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and increased cardiac mortality. Carotid femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) is a validated measure of arterial stiffness, a wellrecognized predictor of adverse cardiovascular outcomes, and offers higher predictive value than classical cardiovascular risk factors. In this study, we investigated the association between COPD and arterial stiffness using cf-PWV as a non-invasive technique.
Methods: This clinical study was prospective, observational and cross-sectional. Sixty-two patients with stable COPD and 22 healthy controls were enrolled. Physical examinations, chest x-rays, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gas analysis and 6 minute walking test were performed on each participant, and cf-PWV was measured via a validated tonometry system.
Results: Patients with COPD exhibited increased arterial stiffness as compared to the control subjects. These differences were associated with decreases in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood, and oxygen saturation during the 6 minute walking test. We observed higher cf-PWV values in COPD patients with more severe disease forms as compared to patients with mild and moderate disease forms. According to linear regression analyses, only FEV1 was an independent predictor of cf-PWV in our study population.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that cf-PWV, a measure of arterial stiffness, is increased in patients with more severe and advanced COPD as compared to those with mild and moderate forms. Airflow limitation and hypoxemia may induce increased arterial stiffness in COPD patients.
Footnotes
- Correspondence: Dr Servet Kayhan, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey. Fax number: + 90 464 2170364, Email:kayhanservet{at}gmail.com
Authors role in the study: All authors contributed to conception and design of the study and acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data. Servet Kayhan also contributed to English editing of the manuscript and drafted the article. Aziz Gumus also contributed to statistical analysis, assembling tables and figures.
- Copyright © 2013 by Daedalus Enterprises Inc.