Peripheral arterial disease in COPD patients

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.There is growing recognition that the inflammatory state associated with COPD involves the systemic circulation and can impact nonpulmonary organs. Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an atherosclerotic process that affects non-coronary arteries. Ankle-brachial index (ABI) is a non-invasive method, with a high sensibility and specificity for the diagnosis of PAD. An ABI≥1.3 is considered pathological and is associated with incompressible arteries and with previous cardiovascular disease. Objective: To compare pulmonary variables on COPD patients with normal and pathological values of ABI. Methods: 40 COPD patients were included in this study. Respiratory function, dyspnea, Body Mass Index and ABI were assessed. Patients were allocated into 2 groups according to the results of ABI. Patients with normal values in ABI were allocated to group 1, and patients with an ABI≥1.3 to group 2. Results: 22 patients had a normal ABI, and 18 had an ABI≥1.3. Characteristic of the groups are shown in table 1: Conclusions: The ABI is a simple and non-invasive test for revealing PAD. Significant differences were found in age, and respiratory function between the group with normal and pathological values of ABI.