Cardiac Biomarkers in the Identification of Future Risk in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common and disabling disease and the third leading cause of global mortality behind ischemic heart disease and stroke. Acute exacerbations of COPD accelerate lung function decline affecting the quality of life of COPD patients and moreover, remain the major contributors to morbidity and mortality of these patients. Cardiovascular comorbidities are prevalent in COPD patients and of great importance since they have a negative impact on patients' health status. During the past few years there is an increasing interest in potential molecules that can be measured accurately and reproducibly and that can be used in COPD as biomarkers to predict clinical important outcomes such as exacerbations, hospitalizations and mortality. Such molecules have been successfully used in cardiovascular diseases and therefore, cardiac biomarkers have attracted attention for their potential use in COPD. The present review summarizes the available evidence for the use of the most important cardiac biomarkers in the evaluation of COPD severity, outcomes and management.