PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sarah Wilke AU - Martijn Spruit AU - Malgorzata Otkinska AU - Nicole Lencer AU - Lowie Vanfleteren AU - Emiel Wouters AU - Frits Franssen TI - Echocardiographic abnormalities in patients with COPD entering pulmonary rehabilitation DP - 2013 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - 4656 VI - 42 IP - Suppl 57 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/4656.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/4656.full SO - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42 AB - Purpose: We aimed to study echocardiographic abnormalities in patients with COPD entering pulmonary rehabilitation (PR).Methods: Demographic and clinical characteristics were assessed in 160 stable patients with mild to very severe COPD during a pre-rehabilitation assessment. In addition, all patients underwent echocardiographic evaluation. The relationship between lung function and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was assessed.Results: Cardiovascular abnormalities were detected in 69 of the 160 (43.8%) patients with COPD (41.3% female, mean (SD) age 63.3 (9.3) years, FEV1 46.49 (19.2)% predicted). Decreased LVEF (46.4%), left ventricular hypertrophy (27.5%), elevated right ventricular systolic pressure and valvular dysfunction (both 10.1%) were most prevalent. Forty-two of the 69 patients did not have echocardiographic abnormalities in their medical history. There was no relationship between FEV1 and LVEF.Conclusions: Almost half of the patients with mild to very severe COPD entering PR had echocardiographic abnormalities. Indeed, in 61% of these cases, the abnormalities were previously undetected. These findings underline the complexity of patients with COPD entering PR and the importance of echocardiography as an assessment tool for patients with COPD.This study was financially supported by Lung Foundation Netherlands (3.4.10.015) and GlaxoSmithKline (SCO115406).