title: Is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associated with increased arterial stiffness?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We hypothesize that airflow limitation is associated with increasing arterial stiffness and that having COPD increases a non-invasive measure of arterial stiffness - the aortic augmentation index (AIx) - independently of other CVD risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  This population study is based on 3374 subjects from the Copenhagen City Heart Study; 494 had COPD. We used multiple linear regression analyses to examine the association between COPD and AIx adjusted for CVD risk factors. Furthermore, we analyzed the association between AIx and FEV(1), FVC and FEV(1)/FVC in the entire population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AIx was higher in subjects with COPD than in subjects without: 25.7 vs. 21.0 (p < 0.001) in men and 33.6 vs. 29.4 (p < 0.001) in women. We found no increase in AIx with COPD adjusted for CVD risk factors: difference 0.63 (-0.26 to 1.52, p = 0.16). In sensitivity analyses in subjects younger than 60 years with exclusion of mild COPD from the analyses, COPD was associated with an increase in AIx in men only of 4.1 (0.88-7.22, p = 0.007). AIx had a curvilinear association with FEV(1) and FVC but no association with the FEV(1)/FVC ratio.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AIx and COPD are only weakly associated. In the general population, this finding argues against increased arterial stiffness, as measured by AIx, being a complication of COPD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hvidovre Hospital, Kettegaard Allé 30, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark. julie.janner@hvh.regionh.dk
authors.forename: Julie H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Janner
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: McAllister
authors.forename: Nina S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Godtfredsen
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.forename: Jørgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vestbo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001011:Aorta / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology; D014797:Vital Capacity / Q000502:physiology