Impact of smoking and arterial hypertension on plasma surfactant protein-A levels in patients during acute exacerbation COPD

Abstract

The aim of our study was to evaluate the plasma levels of SP-A in patients (pts) during acute exacerbation (AE) COPD taking into account a risk factors such as smoking (S) and arterial hypertension (AH).

We observed 43 pts with AE COPD, 12 stable (S) COPD pts wihtout AH, non-smokers and 10 healthy persons (H). They made the study samples. All pts were divided into groups: the first one (1st) - 16 smokers pts with AE COPD, the second (2d) - 15 non-smokers pts with AE COPD and AH, the third (3d) – 12 smokers pts with AE COPD and AH. Plasma levels of SP-A was measured by ELISA (Hycult Biotech, Netherlands) on first, third, tenth days of admission to the hospital in addition to general examination.

Results: SP-A levels were significantly higher in all groups than in non-smokers. SP-A levels in all groups were significantly higher on first and third day and decrease on tenth day to H levels (p˂0,05). There were significantly difference etween SP-A levels in the 1st and the 2d groups, in the 3d and the 2d groups (p˂0,05). Tendency to increasing of plasma SP-A were found in the 1st and the 3d groups, in the 2d group and the S COPD pts (p˂0,058) and had statistically significant difference with H (p˂0,05). In addition, the levels of SP-A in th 1st and 3d groups were positively correlated with FEV1. There were light links between SP-A and AH.

Conclusions: Our study showing that the SP-A levels in smokers were significantly higher than non-smokers. Massive arterial SP-A expression during AE COPD on the 1st day of admission is directly exposed to cigarette smoke. Smoking is more aggressive risk factor that`s why the cessation remains a core strategy for this patients.