Coronary heart disease risk higher with COPD

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are more likely to have coronary heart disease (CHD), but no specific phenotypes have a higher risk, according to a study published online April 27 in PLOS ONE.

Christina D. Svendsen, from Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, and colleagues examined whether COPD patients have a true higher risk for CHD than people without COPD. The analysis included 347 COPD patients and 428 non-COPD controls who completed coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and pulmonary CT.

The researchers found that when adjusting for sex, age, body composition, pack-years, C-reactive protein, cholesterol/blood pressure-lowering medication use, and diabetes mellitus, the risk for having significant stenosis trended higher for COPD patients versus controls. Similarly, the risk for having coronary stenosis and a calcium score (CaSc) >100 was higher in COPD patients. No variable was associated with significant stenosis among COPD patients, but the risk for CaSc >100 in COPD patients was associated with male sex, age, and statin use, after adjusting for body composition, pack-years, C-reactive protein, use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers, diabetes, emphysema score, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease category, exacerbation frequency, eosinophilia, and hypoxemia.

"This study shows the importance of early detection of coronary heart disease among COPD patients, especially considering the overlapping symptoms," Svendsen said in a statement.

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