Metabolic syndrome in chemical warfare patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Introduction: Sulfur mustard [SM], a toxic alkylating gas, can cause serious long-term pulmonary complications such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD]. Metabolic syndrome [MetS] is one of the important comorbidities of COPD. This study was designed to evaluate the frequency of metabolic syndrome in Iranian chemical warfare patients [CWPs] with COPD

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Materials and Methods: Thirty CWPs with a mean age of 46.93 +/- 6.8 were enrolled in this study. The following parameters were studied in: complete pulmonary function tests, health-related quality of life, serum triglycerides [TG], high density lipoprotein [HDL] and fasting blood sugar [FBS] levels. Additionally, 32 COPD patients and 56 healthy persons were considered as control groups who were matched to CWPs

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Results: We found a statistically significant difference in the frequency of MetS between the COPD patients and the healthy control group [P=0.04]. Additionally, we observed a statistically significant difference in the mean HDL levels among these groups [P=<0.001]. In the CWPs, the frequency of MetS was significantly decreased in severe to very severe stages [P<0.001]

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Conclusion: Our data indicate that metabolic syndrome is frequent in chemical warfare patients, and special attention to this condition in mild to moderate stages is recommended