PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Akinori Ebihara
AU  - Akihumi Watanabe
AU  - Asuka Nagai
AU  - Takayuki Nakano
AU  - Tokuzen Iwamoto
AU  - Ichiro Kuwahira
TI  - Relationship between early exposure to tobacco smoke and intima media thickness (IMT) in COPD patients
DP  - 2012 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P4080
VI  - 40
IP  - Suppl 56
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P4080.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P4080.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2012 Sep 01; 40
AB  - (Background) We have previously reported at the 2011 ERS Annual Congress that early exposure to tobacco smoke significantly increased the prevalence of COPD. As a follow up, we hypothesize that COPD from early exposure to smoke may cause an increase of IMT that correlates with the increase in the prevalence of smoke-related vascular comorbidities. (Methods) We identified potential subjects into three groups:G1) history of COPD and early exposure;G2) history of COPD and non-early exposure;G3) subjects without COPD and analyzed the measurements IMT. IMT were measured using the longitudinal axis of the common carotid arteries from ultrasound. We defined early exposure as when habitual smoking started before age of 20. (Results) A total of 152 subjects (72±10 years old:SD) were enrolled into the study after informed consents were obtained. G1, 2, and 3 consisted of 41 subjects (age 68±9 yrs), 80 subjects (71±11), and 31 subjects (69±10) respectively. Maximum value of IMT in G1 was 1.34±0.12mm,G2 was 1.23±0.13, and G3 was 1.12±0.16. Groups with history of COPD had higher maximum value of IMT when compared with group without COPD. Furthermore, G1 demonstrated higher value when compared with G2, suggesting early exposure to smoke as possible etiology within subjects with COPD. (Conclusion) In subjects with COPD, early exposure promoted atherosclerotic changes, which may increase the likelihood of smoke-related vascular comorbidities such as cardiovascular and cerberovascular diseases. Further studies are needed to elucidate the precise magnitude of the increase in risk of these comorbidities associated with COPD and early exposure.