People with arthritis and COPD have a higher risk of death than those with arthritis alone. That’s according to a study published in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation.
The study analyzed data from more than 11,000 individuals from the U.S. National Health Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2018 who self-reported having arthritis. Of that total, 1,795 patients had COPD, while 9,503 did not.
According to a news release, the researchers examined the number of all-cause deaths and cardiovascular disease deaths over a period of 8.8 years and found a “significant association between COPD and increased mortality rates for people with arthritis.”
The researchers wrote that this suggests a connection between COPD and arthritis as the diseases share inflammatory pathways as well as lifestyle and genetic factors.
Chenfeng Fu, MM, a pulmonologist with the Second People’s Hospital of Banan District in Chongqing, China, and senior author of the study, said the findings point toward the need for increased COPD screening in certain segments of the population.
“These results highlight the importance of COPD screening, particularly in people with arthritis,” Fu said. “Screening and earlier diagnosis of COPD would enable health care professionals to help people manage their diseases more effectively and increase their quality of life.”
