[Mortality risk factors in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

The aim of this prospective study was to determine the mortality risk factors in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Eighty-six COPD patients were observed during 3 to 5 years. The presence and the severity of COPD were established according to COPD criteria (1998). Unfavorable outcomes were not noted only in 39 (45.3%) of the patients. Nineteen patients died; among those 15 patients died of the underlying disease and its complications. Death predictors in COPD may be listed as follows: forced expiratory volume in the 1st second is less than 40% normal value; SaO2 is less than 90%; the result of 6-minute walk test is less than 300 m; pulmonary arterial pressure is 40 mm Hg or higher; the thickness of the right ventricular (RV) wall is 0.7 cm or more; the volume of the RV cavity is 3.0 cm or more; the presence of relative right atrial dilation (the index of which is 0.9 or less); the presence of diastolic RV dysfunction; clinical symptoms of circulatory decompensation; a tendency towards the hyperkinetic type of circulation. The risk of death is higher in patients more than 60 years of age, those who have been experiencing dyspnea for more than 10 years, patients who have been smoking for more than 40 years, and patients with a smoking index of 50 pack-year or higher.