A study of prevalence of pulmonary hypertension in COPD patients

Abstract

The leading cause of mortality and morbidity all over the world is Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the major cause for it is its complications. The most prevalent complication being Pulmonary Hypertension. According to WHO data in 2002, COPD was the fifth leading cause of death. The prevalence of disease is rising among males and females equally because of increasing trends of tobacco usage. Deaths will increase by more than 30% in the next 10years as predicted by the data. In 2030, the third leading cause of death will occur due to COPD. (Katiyar) It has also been observed non smoking females in rural population also suffer from COPD due to biomass smoke exposure at the time of cooking. (Sertogullarindan) Definition of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): it is an airflow obstruction resulting from an inflammatory process, which affects the parenchyma of lungs and airways. The presenting features are respiratory symptoms, which are confirmed by spirometry. The changes are not only limited to airways affects pulmonary vessels (Barbera) GOLD and BOLD are the two terms related to COPD. The Global initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung disease (GOLD) has defined COPD as post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) 70.5.