Co Morbidities in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Are We Aware

ABSTRACT

Introduction: COPD is a major cause of morbidity andmortality worldwide Besides lungs it has systemic effects,co morbidities. These co morbidities increase the risk ofexacerbation, reduce health status and increase risk ofmortality. The primary objective of this study was to assesthe various co morbidities in COPD patients, to study thedifference in proportion of co morbidities in smokers ascompared to the non-smokers and to study the proportion ofvarious co morbidities according to GOLD stageMaterial and methods: We studied 55 consecutive COPDpatients who presented to the department of pulmonarymedicine, Goa Medical College from August 2016 to July2017.Results: Out of the 55 patients included in the study 34(61.8%) were males and 21(31.8%) were females, age (meanand SD) 67.32±9.46, FEV1% (mean and SD) 47.45±12.78,FEV1/FVC% (mean and SD) 57.05±9.11, 36(65.4%) weresmokers with pack /year (mean and SD) 26.08±17.55, and19(34.5%) had biomass exposure with Biomass exposureindex (mean and SD)104.54±71.05 and Hb (mean and SD)was 12.83±2.19. The most frequent co morbidties werehypertension 54.5% (30 cases), followed by psychologicaldisturbance like depression 43.6% (24 cases). Percentage ofco morbidities were higher in the COPD patients exposed totobacco smoke as compared to biomass smoke. Percentage ofco morbidities were higher in the very severe stage of COPDas compared to the other stages of COPD.Conclusion: We recommend as a general practice to assesco morbidities in all COPD patients and vise versa as the comorbidities play a important role in exacerbation, reducinghealth status and increasing risk of mortality