Evaluation of Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a progressive and partially reversible disease, has drawn world-wide attention for its moderate prevalence rate and causing central and peripheral neuropathy. Considering its severity in causing visual pathway impairment, the present investigation was carried out to find out the functional integrity of the visual pathway through visual evoked potentials (VEP) and to determine the factors influencing the condition in COPD patients. A total of 30 COPD patients of both sexes, classified according to the severity of the disease based on spirometric indices, were subjected to VEP testing and series of wave forms were measured and compared with equal number of control subjects. The latency of N75 and P100 were prolonged (P < 0.01) and the P100 amplitude was reduced significantly (P < 0.01) in COPD patients. Thus, the influence of COPD causing the optic neuropathy is apparent from the significant VEP changes. Non-invasive procedure can possibly be utilized as a routine screening test for COPD patients for better medical care.