Extract
For quite some time, we have known that pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with an increased risk of death in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [1, 2]. The occurrence of PH in the context of chronic lung diseases is often the result of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension and is classified as Group III PH by the World Health Organization (WHO) [3]. The diagnosis of PH requires a high index of suspicion, as symptoms are often vague and nonspecific, particularly among individuals with pre-existing respiratory disease. PH is defined by hemodynamic measurement during right-sided heart catheterisation (RHC), even though RHC is not routinely performed in COPD, because of the invasive nature of the procedure and the lack of efficacious treatments [4–6]. Comorbid PH independently accounts for worsening dyspnoea, fatigue, impaired exercise tolerance and poor quality of life in COPD [7, 8], and is associated with increased risk of hospitalisation and higher mortality [2, 3, 9].
Abstract
In a general population, the PA:A is associated with increased mortality in moderate to severe COPD http://ow.ly/L9S130bNuq7
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside this article at erj.ersjournals.com
- Received April 10, 2017.
- Accepted April 17, 2017.
- Copyright ©ERS 2017