Prevalence of Cardiovascular Comorbidities in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Suburban Areas of South-West India

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the vital cause of morbidity and mortality in Western world, though it has become an increasing cause of mortality in India also in the past decade. Another concern is that COPD patients use medications that stimulate the cardiovascular system, including anticholinergic agents and sympathomimetic medications to study the prevalence of cardiovascular comorbidities in patients with COPD. Methods: It was a prospective observational study, which was conducted on inpatient subjects diagnosed to have COPD based on GOLD guidelines 2020, for a period of 1 year in tertiary care hospital. Results: The most of the patients were in 60–80 year age group (70%) and majority was males (87%). All the males (n=87) were smokers (62 ex-smokers and 25 present smokers) while all females (n=13) were non-smokers. The mean BMI for patients with CVD was 25.85±4.19 kg/m2 while for patients without CVD, mean BMI was 27.46±3.98 kg/m2. About 63.2% of the males (n=87) had some cardiovascular comorbidity as compared to 38.5% of females (n=13). The prevalence of cardiovascular comorbidities in subjects with COPD was 60% in the present study. This was significantly higher in patients with COPD as compared to the reported prevalence value in the general population of comparable age group. The prevalence of associated cardiovascular abnormality in COPD patients with increased PCV (Packed cell volume), leukocytosis, and neutrophilia are 56.3%, 65%, and 60%, respectively. The most common cardiovascular comorbidity in subjects with COPD was ischemic heart disease (21%), followed by heart failure (20%), stroke (5%), arrhythmias (3%), and LVH (3%).