[Cardiovascular comorbidity in COPD]

The presence of cardiovascular alterations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is no coincidence. Smoking, a risk factor for both entities, could partly explain the strength of the association; however, there are data that suggest that other determining factors such as systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, hypoxemia, endothelial dysfunction and even aging could also be involved. Prognosis is worse in patients with both entities. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) contributes to hospitalization in patients with COPD and to mortality. Approximately one out of every four patients with COPD dies from cardiovascular causes. Equally, COPD exacerbation also leads to a greater number of cardiovascular events and an increase in mortality has even been found among patients with CVD and COPD compared with controls without COPD. These determining factors underline the need to develop a comprehensive view for the early detection of at-risk individuals and use of appropriate therapeutic measures. Vasodilators, statins and beta-blockers may improve morbidity and mortality in patients with COPD, possibly because these drugs maximize control of the underlying CVD. Nevertheless, the antiinflammatory potential of statins could be of interest. Inhaled corticosteroids and even some bronchodilators could also decrease cardiovascular morbidity. These data are from observational studies and should be interpreted with caution but are nevertheless sufficiently interesting to warrant the enormous interest aroused by the interaction between the two most prevalent chronic diseases in the western world, COPD and CVD.