Study the association of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with early endothelial dysfunction and its impact on cardiovascular system by estimating urinary albumin creatinine ratio.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) attribute to systemic inflammation which is responsible for microalbuminuria reflecting endothelial dysfunction, could be a significant surrogate marker of potential cardiovascular morbidity.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to find out the possible association of COPD with early cardiovascular changes in the form of renal endothelial dysfunction.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Case-control, multi-group, cross-sectional hospital-based study was designed and conducted in the Department of Respiratory Medicine of BPS Government Medical College for Women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonipat, Haryana.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 150 subjects, comprising of three groups with each having 50 subjects: Group 1 - acute exacerbation of COPD, Group 2 - stable COPD patients, Group 3 - asymptomatic smokers. Pulmonary function test, urine albumin creatinine ratio (UACR) and brachio-ankle pulse wave velocity were measured in all the subjects.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Data were analyzed using SPSS ver 20 (IBM, USA) software. Continuous variables were compared by unpaired Student's t-test while correlation was measured by Pearson correlation test, P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: The mean urine albumin creatinine ratio UACR value in acute exacerbation of COPD (283.30 mg/g; standard deviation [SD] ±871.98) was found significantly higher compare to control subjects (24.17 mg/g; SD ± 32.105;) P = 0.038. Besides this COPD patients with Type 2 respiratory failure having robust positive correlation in between UACR and arterial blood pH (r = 0.559; P = 0.030) while it was inverse and moderate with partial pressure of arterial oxygen (r = -0.470; P = 0.077).

CONCLUSIONS: Acute state of COPD with or without Type 2 respiratory failure is having a significant impact on cardiovascular system in the form of early microvascular changes.