Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients exhibit increased cardiovascular risk, even after controlling for smoking. Inflammation may underlie this observation.
Methods: We measured vascular inflammation in both COPD patients and controls using (18)F-FDG PET/CT. Aortic inflammation was expressed as the target-to-background ratio (TBR) of the standardized uptake value in 7 COPD patients, 5 metabolic syndrome patients, and 7 ex-smokers.
Results: Abdominal aortic mean TBR (+/-SD) was greater in COPD patients than in ex-smoker controls (1.60 +/- 0.13 vs. 1.34 +/- 0.15, P = 0.0001). Aortic arch and abdominal aorta mean TBRs were higher in metabolic syndrome patients than in COPD patients (aortic arch, 1.80 +/- 0.18 vs. 1.53 +/- 0.18, P = 0.001, and abdominal aorta, 1.71 +/- 0.14 vs. 1.60 +/- 0.13, P = 0.001).
Conclusion: COPD patients exhibited aortic inflammation that fell between the aortic inflammation exhibited by ex-smokers and that by metabolic syndrome patients. This may in part explain the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in COPD patients.