A prospective study of ECG and echocardiographic changes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a major cause of chronic morbidity and mortality throughout the world. COPD is 4th leading cause of death in the world and becomes 3^rd leading cause of death by 2030 worldwide. COPD accounts for a substantial number of visits to general physician, emergency department, hospital admissions and also a cause for frequent absence from work. COPD is associated with considerable morbidity and a patient of COPD causes financial burden to the family as well as to the national health expenditure.Materials and Methods: This is a hospital based cross-sectional study carried out in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Maheswara Medical College & Hospital and Hyderabad from January 2019 to December 2019.  A total of 50 patients with proven diagnosis of COPD were subjected to ECG and echocardiographic studies. Blood samples drawn were subjected for CBC and ABG tests. Patients with Bronchial asthma, post pulmonary tuberculosis, and any existing cardiac illness were excluded.Results: In the study, males outnumbered females (86% vs 14%) with male to female ratio of 6.14:1. The most common age group was 41 to 50 years (30%), 28% of the patients were aged between 51 to 60 years, 16% of the patients were aged 61 to 70 years, 12% of the patients were aged > 70 years and 14% were aged < 40 years.Conclusion: The most common ECG abnormality observed in COPD patients was P pulmonale and ECG abnormalities are significantly associated with the severity of COPD. 2. The Echocardiographic study showed significant increase in the right heart parameters, which is more profound in patients with very severe COPD group