Severity of coronary atherosclerosis in patients with COPD

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has many comorbidities such as coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke. Chronic low-grade systemic inflammation and oxidative stress play a significant role in CAD and COPD. We analysed that impact of COPD on intensity and severity of coronary artery lesions on the angiogram in the groups of patients with COPD according to the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) grades updated in 2015. METHODS: The study included 102 COPD patients and 80 randomly selected subjects without any pulmonary disease who underwent coronary angiography. According to the GOLD grade for COPD, patients were divided into four groups: A, B, C and D. The severity and extent of CAD were determined using the Gensini score. RESULTS: There were no significant between-group differences in age, body mass index, smoking history, plasma lipids levels, frequency of hypertension, diabetes and CAD. The mean Gensini score in patients with COPD was significantly higher than those without (respectively, 25.7 ± 32.9 vs 17.5 ± 24.8, P = 0.01). While Gensini score was the highest level in the patient group D (64.9 ± 34.9), it was the lowest level in the patient group A (10.2 ± 19.4, P = 0.0001). The Gensini scores increased in accordance with increases in the GOLD grades. We observed that COPD was independently predictive for Gensini score after a multi-variate logistic regression analysis (odds ratio 1.374; 95% confidence interval 1.672-9.232; P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Severity and intensity of coronary atherosclerosis increases in accordance with increases in the GOLD grades for COPD.