Noufal Chooriath1, Kiran Vishnu Narayan2, Poriyanganattu Thankappan Anandan3
BACKGROUND
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic respiratory disease
characterised by progressive dyspnoea on exertion and cough. COPD is associated
with comorbidities that influence mortality and hospitalizations independently.
Metabolic syndrome (MS) consists of central obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, low
levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), hyperglycaemia and hypertension.
Presence of metabolic syndrome in patients with COPD increases the frequency of
exacerbations and their duration. This study was done to find out prevalence of
metabolic syndrome in COPD patients and its influence on exacerbations.
METHODS
This prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching
hospital in South India. 174 patients meeting the inclusion criteria were recruited
for this prospective observational study, out of which 13 were excluded due to
various reasons. Selected patients underwent detailed clinical examination and
investigations including chest X-ray, spirometry, fasting blood sugar, fasting lipid
profile, electrocardiogram (ECG) etc. Patients were further grouped in to those
with metabolic syndrome and those without. They were followed up for one year
with review on every two months for assessing exacerbation of COPD. Data was
evaluated at the end of the study, statistical evaluation was done using Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS software version18).
RESULTS
A total of 174 patients were recruited for the study, among which 13 were
excluded. 161 patients were included in the final evaluation, out of which 157
patients were male (97.5 %). 44.7 % were belonging to global initiative for
obstructive lung disease (GOLD stage III), 37.3 % stage IV and 18 % stage II. 70
(43.5 %) had metabolic syndrome. 51.6 % had normal body mass index (BMI),
23.6 % over weight and 3.7 % were obese. Mean number of exacerbations were
3.20 in those with metabolic syndrome, whereas 1.52 in those without, during the
follow up period.
CONCLUSIONS
Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among COPD patients was 43.5 % in this study.
COPD patients with metabolic syndrome had more mean number of exacerbations
than those without metabolic syndrome.
