Indicators of skin aging in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: SCINEXA score and laboratory markers

Background The hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is excessive systemic inflammation that impacts the skin and other body systems. Growth hormone (GH) is known to be a characteristic biological marker of aging. Red cell distribution width (RDW) has emerged as a biomarker of the aging process and for evaluating the severity of COPD. Objective This study aimed to evaluate skin aging in COPD patients using GH as a biological marker of aging, in addition, to assessing the relationship between RDW values and skin aging in COPD patients. Patients and methods Forty-five patients diagnosed with COPD and 45 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. The SCINEXA score was used to measure clinical skin aging. A peripheral blood sample was collected from each patient and control to perform complete blood count, including RDW and analyze GH level. Results Intrinsic, extrinsic, and total SCINEXA aging scores, RDW-coefficient of variation (CV%) and GH level were significantly higher in the patients than the control group. There was a statistically significant relation between total SCINEXA score and age, smoking history, RDW-CV%, and GH. The smoking history and RDW-CV% were significantly independent variables related to the total SCINEXA score. Conclusion Our study pointed out that the age and smoking history of the COPD patients may have an impact on the relationship between skin aging and COPD. As indicated by elevated GH, systemic inflammation in COPD may result in some endocrine changes. Furthermore, the RDW% value may be used as a biomarker to determine the degree of skin aging.