FREQUENCY OF PULMONARY HYPERTENSION IN PATIENTS PRESENTING WITH COPD
Dr. Ufra Mateen, Dr. Sana Munir and Dr. Bareera Khan*
ABSTRACT
Objective: COPD is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in adults all over the world. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is defined as a mean pulmonary artery pressure of ?25 mmHg at rest. Pulmonary hypertension can occur as an isolated disease or as a consequence of a number of underlying diseases and conditions, such as heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Study was done to determine the frequency of pulmonary hypertension in patients presenting with COPD. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study conducted at Department of Cardiology, Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital. In this study the cases of either gender with age more than 40 years were included. The cases of COPD for at least 1 years were included. The cases with primary pulmonary HTN and those with connective tissue disorder and chronic pulmonary edema were excluded. The diagnosis of COPD was made on the basis of PFTs with FEV1/FVC ratio of less than 0.70 and the post bronchodilator (with salbutamol 400 microgram inhalation) change of less than 12% in FEV1 according to COPD GOLD guidelines 2017 and the cases were categorized according to same guidelines into different severity groups and cases of moderate or more severe disease were included. A total of 200 patients were evaluated for presence of pulmonary hypertension using chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, 2D echocardiography. Results: In this study 200 cases of COPD were included with mean age of 61.21±12.79 years. There were 162 (81%) males and all were smokers. Majority of the cases i.e. 102 (51%) had severe COPD. Pulmonary HTN was observed in 80 (40%) of the cases. It was significantly high in cases that had COPD for more than 5 years where it was seen in 72 (36%) of cases. It was also significantly high in cases that had very severe form of COPD affecting 46 (23%) of patients. Conclusion: Pulmonary Hypertension is seen in almost half of cases with COPD and it is significantly high in cased that had very severe COPD and for more than 5 years.
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