Endothelial Dysfunction and Systemic Inflammation in Patients With Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs; however, there is cumulating data suggesting that the inflammatory reaction associated with COPD is not restricted to the lungs but has systemic effects. Patients with COPD have increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The suspected link between increased cardiovascular mortality and systemic inflammation is endothelial dysfunction, which in turn is caused by impaired activity of NO. Endothelial dysfunction has been demonstrated in patients with COPD. Furthermore there is a close correlation between endothelial dysfunction in coronary and peripheral vessels, which allows assessing flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in the brachial artery via high resolution ultrasound as an early predictor of atherosclerosis. Moreover, systemic inflammatory markers correlate with endothelial dysfunction in patients with stable COPD.

Exacerbations of COPD are episodes of worsening symptoms characterized by increased airway and systemic inflammation. If systemic inflammation is a cause of endothelial dysfunction in COPD, endothelial function would be suspected to be further impaired during exacerbation and recover thereafter. The purpose of this study is to determine a possible association between the clinical entity of exacerbation, markers of systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in patients with COPD.