Morphological and functional erythrocyte parameters in smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
The aim of this study was to investigate morphological and functional erythrocyte parameters in smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We measured erythrocyte parameters (RBC, HGB, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW-SD) using the automatic hematological analyzer Sysmex XT-2000i. Sixty-nine patients participated in the study. The patients were divided into 3 groups: 34 patients with COPD (mean age 63 yrs, median smoking history 36 packyrs); 15 smokers without bronchial obstruction (mean age 56 yrs, median smoking history 28 packyrs) and 20 nonsmokers of the sane age without bronchial obstruction. Smokers with COPD and smokers without bronchial obstruction had significantly higher erythrocyte parameters compared to those of nonsmokers. Smokers demonstrated higher HGB level that could be as a compensatory reaction to nicotine-related preclinical hypoxia. Marked increase in RBC number and anisocytosis (RDW-SD) reflected the erythron activation in smokers with COPD. These results suggest that measurement of erythrocyte parameters could be useful to assess symptomatic erythrocytosis in COPD patients.