Impact Of Peak Oxygen Pulse On Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at an increased risk of cardiovascular comorbidities such as pulmonary hypertension or heart failure. Impaired cardiovascular function often has a significant impact on patients with COPD. Oxygen pulse (O₂P) is a surrogate for stroke volume. However, studies regarding O₂P, health-related quality of life (HRQL), and exercise capacity in patients with COPD are lacking. We aimed to confirm the association between O₂P, HRQL, exercise capacity, severe exacerbation of COPD, and other parameters in exercise testing.

This study included 79 patients with COPD who underwent lung function testing, a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET), Borg Dyspnea Scale evaluation, completion of the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire, and echocardiography. Cardiovascular comorbidities, COPD-related hospitalizations, and emergency room visits were recorded. We compared these parameters between two groups of patients: those with normal peak O₂P and those with impaired peak O₂P. The relationships of peak O₂P with CPET and lung function were analyzed using simple linear regression.

Patients with normal peak O₂P had higher exercise capacity (peak oxygen uptake and work rate), better HRQL, lower dyspnea score, lower COPD-related hospitalizations, and higher circulatory and ventilator parameters than patients with impaired peak O₂P. According to a simple linear regression analysis, the anaerobic threshold (AT) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) showed a significant association with peak O₂P, and the Pearson correlation coefficients (Pearson's r) were 0.756 and 0.461, respectively.

Peak O₂P has a significant impact on exercise capacity, HRQL, dyspnea, COPD-related hospitalization, and circulatory and ventilatory functions in patients with COPD. The AT and FEV1 have strong and moderate associations with peak O₂P, respectively. Therefore, peak O₂P is an important indicator of disease severity for patients with COPD.