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Lung Disease Impacts Heart Early On
Reported January 25, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study found the heart's ability to pump
effectively is diminished among people with a common lung disease, even if
they don't have symptoms.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of
death in the US, and is strongly associated with smoking.
"Heart failure caused by lung disease is well documented in patients with
severe COPD, but was not thought to occur in patients with mild COPD,"
Graham Barr, M.D., Dr. PH., assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology
at Columbia University Medical Center and lead author was quoted as saying.
"We found that there appears to be a linear relationship between lung
function and heart function, and even a small hit to the lungs negatively
affects heart function as well."
Researchers say they now have evidence that even mild COPD may have
important health implications beyond the lungs, and changes in the heart
caused by COPD occur much earlier than previously thought.
"These results raise the intriguing possibility that treating lung disease
may, in the future, improve heart function," Dr. Barr was quoted as saying.
One in five Americans over the age of 45 has COPD, but as many as half may
not even be aware of it.
SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, January 2010 |
