CARDIFF, Wales, June 15 -- Premature arterial stiffness and bone aging in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may explain why cardiovascular disease may emerge, researchers here reported.
Furthermore, osteoporosis in COPD patients, a common complication of the disease, was linked to even greater arterial stiffening, Dennis J. Shale, M.D., of Cardiff University, and colleagues reported in the second June 2007 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
In a study of 75 clinically stable COPD patients (mean age 63) with various levels of airway obstruction, and 42 healthy smokers or ex-smoker controls who were free of cardiovascular disease, the researchers tested the hypothesis that COPD patients would have increased arterial stiffness, which would be associated with osteoporosis and systemic inflammation.
All participants underwent spirometry, measurement of aortic (carotid-femoral) pulse wave velocity and augmentation index, a measure of arterial stiffness, as well as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and blood sampling for inflammatory mediators.
The mean aortic pulse wave velocity was greater in patients, 11.4 m/s, than in controls, 8.95 m/s, P<0.0001.
