The influence of chronic inflammation in COPD patients aged 40 to 60 years on the early development of atherosclerotic changes in brachiocephalic vessels.

In this work we wanted to study of the relationship between chronic inflammation in COPD and the possibility of developing atherosclerosis of brachiocephalic vessels in patients aged 40-60 years. We analized 66 disease histories of COPD patients aged 40-60 years. The average age of the patients was 51.16 ± 5.01 years. The majority of patients with a stable course of COPD, key markers of systemic inflammation were higher than in the comparison group — C-reactive protein by 1.86 mg, fibrinogen by 0.37 g⁄l, TNF- α by 2.64 mg⁄l. The expressiveness of the inflammatory response in patients with COPD progressively increases as the disease progresses. We took the CRP level as a basic indicator of systemic inflammation. The average level of CRP in patients that we researched was 11.60 ± 5.54 mg/l. We also considered some of the indicators of high risk of developing atherosclerosis, such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and total cholesterol, and analyzed the dependence of these indicators on CRP levels. Correlation coefficient y = 0.6838x + 4.7487(CPR and total cholesterol) Correlation coefficient y = 0.7749x + 3.4863(CRP anf LDL) The correlation between CRP and LDL is even stronger than between CRP and total cholesterol - r = 0.77 ± 3.48), which indicates a strong dependence. Therefore, looking at these data, it is possible to assume that patients with COPD, as a chronic inflammation, which is accompanied by an increased level of CRP, it makes sense to screen the levels of total cholesterol and LDL in order to prevent or as soon as possible diagnose the risk of developing atherosclerosis of vessels, as one of the leading causes of death.