Comparison of arterial stiffness and ultrasound indices in patients with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare arterial stiffness and ultrasound indices in patients with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. METHODS: In our retrospective study, 83 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients were assigned to the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease group and 80 healthy controls were enrolled. Pearson's correlation analysis software was used to analyze the correlation between arterial stiffness (including brachial ankle pulse wave velocity and ankle-brachial blood pressure index) and ultrasound index (including resistance index, pulsatility index, and intima-media thickness) at the carotid artery in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. RESULTS: The ultrasound resistance index and pulsatility index level of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease group were lower than those of control group (t=6.326, 8.321, p<0.001). Compared with the control group, the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease group had higher intima-media thickness, total plaque area, and number of plaques (t=4.574, 7.493, 5.093, p<0.001). The arterial stiffness and ankle-brachial blood pressure index level in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease group were higher than those in the control group (t=6.392, 5.109, p<0.001). Moreover, arterial stiffness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was negatively correlated with the ankle-brachial blood pressure index, resistance index, and pulsatility index levels (p<0.05), while it is positively correlated with intima-media thickness, total plaque area, and number of plaques (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have stiffer arteries compared with healthy control subjects; the ultrasound index could be used as an auxiliary indicator for clinical prediction of arterial stiffness, which is helpful to improve the accuracy of prediction and thus better guide clinical interventions in high-risk groups of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in time.