Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study on Blood Disorder and Lung Disease

Abstract

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory disease due to smoking. It is avertable as well as treatable. COPD is a one of the main cause of morbidity and mortality affecting developed and developing countries. We aim to estimate burden of anemia at a tertiary care public sector hospital. Methods: This is a descriptive cross sectional study, done at JPMC Karachi in 2014. All COPD patients admitted in medicine and pulmonology departments were enrolled in this study. After informed consent, data of complete blood count was accessed from medical record and anemia was labeled as per operational definition. Data analyzed by SPSS version 16.0. Frequency and percentage proportion of qualitative variables, mean and standard deviation of numerical values were calculated with P value <0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Of 137 cases, 118(86.13%) were males and 19(13.87%) were females while male to female ratio was 6.2: 1. The average age and weight of the patients was 58.31±12.17 years and 59.36±10.56kg, similarly average duration of disease and hemoglobin of the patients was 5.69±4.42 years and 12.34±1.58 mg/dl respectively. 37.96% (52/137) patients were anemic in our study. Rate of anemia in COPD patients was not significant among age groups (p=0.076) and with duration of disease (p=0.22). Conclusion: Anemia seems to be a common feature in COPD (37.96%), mechanisms involved in the genesis of anemia in COPD are poorly studied. Low hemoglobin level can have adverse effects on certain respiratory parameters in COPD, increasing morbidity and mortality.