TY - JOUR T1 - Is obstructive sleep apnoea a comorbidity of COPD and is it involved in chronic systemic inflammatory syndrome? JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1381 LP - 1382 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00008008 VL - 31 IS - 6 AU - P. Carratu AU - O. Resta Y1 - 2008/06/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/31/6/1381.abstract N2 - To the Editors: Last year, L.M. Fabbri and K.F. Rabe published a very interesting article entitled “From COPD to chronic systemic inflammatory syndrome?” 1. In the article, the authors clearly illustrated that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is not only an inflammatory chronic disease of the airway and the lungs, but also involves systemic, cellular and humoral inflammation, as well as systemic oxidative stress, with striking changes in vasomotor and endothelial functions. These systemic effects of smoking-induced COPD are also critically implicated in establishing associated cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. The presence of frequent complex comorbidities led the authors to consider COPD to be a predisposing condition for developing a new distinct disorder, called chronic systemic inflammatory syndrome (CSIS). Thus, according to the authors, the diagnosis of CSIS needs to be … ER -