Objective. To compare frequency of echocardiographic changes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and non-COPD controls and to assess their relation to the level of airflow limitation. Methods. Study population included 120 subjects divided in two groups. Group 1 included 60 patients with COPD (52 male and 8 female, aged 40 to 80 years) initially diagnosed according to the actual recommendations. Group 2 included 60 subjects in whom COPD was excluded serving as a control. The study protocol consisted of completion of a questionnaire , pulmonary evaluation (dyspnea severity assessment, baseline and post-bronchodilator spirometry, gas analyses, and chest X-ray) and two dimensional (2D) Doppler echocardiography. Results. We found significantly higher mean right ventricle end-diastolic dimension (RVEDd) in COPD patients as compared to its dimension in controls (28.0 ± 4.8 vs. 24.4 ± 4.3; P = 0.0000). Pulmonary hypertension (PH) was more frequent in COPD patients than in controls (28.0 ± 4.8 vs. 24.4 ± 4.3; P = 0.0000) showing linear relationship with severity of airflow limitation. The mean value of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF%) was significantly lower in COPD patients than its mean value in controls (57.4 ± 6.9% vs. 64.8 ± 2.7; P = 0.0000) with no correlation with severity of airflow limitation.       Conclusion. Frequency of echocardiographic changes in COPD patients was significantly higher as compared to their frequency in controls in the most cases being significantly associated with severity of airflow limitation. Echocardiography enables early, noninvasive, and accurate diagnosis of cardiac changes in COPD patients giving time for early intervention. Key words: airflow limitation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Doppler echocardiography, pulmonary hypertension, ventricular dysfunction.

AIM: To assess the frequency of carotid artery disease (CAD) and lower extremities artery disease (LEAD) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their relation to the severity of airflow limitation and the level of C-reactive protein (CRP). METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study including 60 patients with COPD (52 male, 8 female), aged 40 to 80 years, initially diagnosed according to the actual criteria. Also, 30 subjects in whom COPD was excluded, matched to COPD patients by sex, age, body mass index and smoking status, served as controls. All study subjects completed questionnaire and underwent pulmonary evaluation (dyspnea severity assessment, baseline and post-bronchodilator spirometry, gas analyses, and chest X-ray), angiological evaluation by Doppler ultrasonography and measurement of serum CRP level. RESULTS: We found a statistically significant difference between the frequency of carotid plaques in COPD patients as compared to their frequency in controls (65% vs 30%; P = 0.002). The mean value of intima-media thickness (IMT) in COPD patients with CAD was significantly higher than its mean value in controls (0.8 ± 0.2 vs. 0.7 ± 0.2; P = 0.049). IMT value in COPD patients with CAD was significantly related to the degree of airflow limitation, i.e. to the degree of FEV1 decline (P = 0.000), as well as to the serum CRP level (P = 0.001). We found a statistically significant difference between the frequency of COPD patients with LEAD as compared to the frequency of LEAD in controls (78.3% vs 43.3%; P = 0.001). According to the Fontaine classification, COPD patients with LEAD were categorized in the stages I, IIA and IIB (53.3%, 30% and 16.7%, respectively), whereas all controls with LEAD were categorized in the Fontaine stage I. Among COPD patients with LEAD there was significant association between disease severity and clinical manifestations due to the vascular changes (P = 0.001) and serum CRP level (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest higher prevalence and higher severity of vascular changes in COPD patients as compared to their prevalence and severity in non-COPD subjects. Prevalence and severity of vascular changes in COPD patients were significantly related to the severity of airflow limitation and serum CRP levels.