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FRIDAY, June 15 (HealthDay News) -- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a common, often fatal lung disease in smokers, can also stiffen arteries, new British researcher shows.
The effect was especially strong in COPD patients who also suffered from osteoporosis, they add.
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While COPD remains incurable and very difficult to treat, "we are learning more about the problems associated with the disease, and new treatments are likely to follow," said study co-author Dr. Dennis Shale, a lung specialist at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.
COPD, the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, kills by slowly closing off a person's airways due to a combination of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The disease typically occurs in smokers, and scientists think it is caused by inflammation stemming from long-term smoking or other irritants.
In the new study, researchers looked at two groups of people, 75 with COPD and 42 people -- both smokers or ex-smokers -- who did not have COPD or heart disease.
The findings are published in the second issue for June of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Tests suggested that the arteries of the lung disease patients were "stiffer" than those of the other subjects, the researchers report, and arteries deteriorated more as patients got sicker. Stiff or "hardened" arteries -- a condition called atherosclerosis -- can restrict or even cut off blood flow, increasing risks for heart attack and stroke.
Atherosclerosis appeared to be especially advanced in the 18 lung disease patients in the study who suffered from the bone-weakening condition known as osteoporosis.
Scientists still don't understand exactly how COPD and heart disease might be related. But, Shale said, the study, "adds a piece to the jigsaw puzzle, by showing that there is a relationship between the severity of lung disease and stiffness in the aorta, the main artery leading from the heart to the rest of the body."
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