title: Systemic hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy and myocardial infarction in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease.
abstract: Left ventricular function was evaluated prospectively during 1 year in a controlled clinical study of 73 patients with chronic obstructive lung disease. The control group comprised 68 patients matched for age and sex and with no evidence of airways obstruction. Left ventricular hypertrophy was found in 52% and systemic hypertension in 58% of patients in the study group compared with 6% and 15% respectively in the controls. Left ventricular hypertrophy was diagnosed in 70% of patients with chronic bronchitis and in 19% of those with chronic emphysema. Systemic hypertension was observed in 45% of the bronchitic type patients and in 81% of those with emphysema. The incidence of myocardial infarction in the study group was not lower than in the controls. The high frequency of left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease can probably be related to a similar high frequency of systemic hypertension. Hypertension per se does not explain left ventricular hypertrophy in all patients with chronic bronchitis, but hypoxemia and acidosis seem to be of pathogenetic importance in these cases.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000209:etiology*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology*; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000209:etiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors