To Study Association Between Exhaled Carbon Monoxide Levels with Disease Severity in Various Stages of Obstructive Airway Disease

Abstract

Background. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a general name for the chronic airflow obstruction that develops most commonly due to long term tobacco smoking and other noxious gases. The aim of the present study is to check whether exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) levels had any co-relations with disease severity in various stages of COPD.Methods. The clinical severity of asthma and COPD was determined using the criteria defined in the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and Global Initiative for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (GOLD) guidelines. Spirometry was used to confirm the presence of airway obstruction. results. We observed that exhaled CO levels increased with increasing severity of airway obstruction. A statistically significant negative correlation was observed between forced expiratory volume in the first second and exhaled CO (p<0.05).conclusions. We found that measuring the level of exhaled CO in patients with COPD along with spirometry forms a new approach for better understanding of the pathophysiology of COPD cases. [indian j chest dis allied sci 2019;61: [83][84][85][86]