Association between Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Peripheral Arterial Disease in Construction Workers-A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: COPD has been recognized not only as a lung but also a systemic disease. Smoking is a major cause of COPD, cardiovascular disease, stroke and peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Department of Physiology, Santosh Medical College diagnosed with COPD using Spirometry was recruited for the study with a sample size of 130 patients. Results: Of the 130 participants, the mean age was 51.73 years of all COPD patients. Thirty-seven (28.46%) were diagnosed to have PAD. Twenty-five patients (19.23%) were overweight, 10 (7.69%) were obese. All the patients included in the study had history of smoking, including current (n= 67, 51.5%) and former (n= 35, 26.9%) smokers. There was no patient with severe respiratory failure in our study. The most common cardiovascular co-morbidity was hypertension (n= 67, 51.5%), followed by diabetes mellitus (n =28, 21.5%), and dyslipidaemia (n= 35, 26.92%). PAD seen in different stages of COPD stage I –IV were 2.94%, 55.88%, 61.76%, 20.58% respectively. Conclusion: The diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease in COPD is important because this is an entity that limits the patient’s physical activity and impairs their quality of life. Lung function was not associated with PAD in patients with COPD. Abnormal ABI results were associated with a higher prevalence of risk factors and more severe lung disease. Keywords: Peripheral Arterial Disease, Smoking, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.