Few studies have shown that the patients who regularly go to the medical

facilities for liver diseases have a significantly higher prevalence of COPD than
those without liver diseases. The patients with liver diseases were younger than
those without liver diseases, which might cause higher values of VC, FVC and
FEV1 in the liver disease group. Though the distribution of age was different
between the 2 groups, it was higher in patients with liver diseases for all age
groups, and the prevalence of COPD was significantly higher in the patients with
liver diseases than in those without liver diseases after adjusting according to
smoking, age and gender.1
The precise molecular mechanisms of the relationship between liver
diseases and COPD are unclear. However, increased systemic inflammation in
liver diseases might be associated with COPD. An elevation of markers of
systemic inflammation can frequently be found in patients with COPD. The most
plausible molecule is interleukin (IL-8), which is one of the key molecules in the
pathogenesis of COPD. Hepatitis C virus infection induces IL-8 production in
human endothelial cells and the IL-8 levels are associated with HCV replication.
The patients with hepatitis virus, though not significantly, tended to have a higher
prevalence of COPD. The presence of liver diseases might become one of the
useful predictors for the early detection of COPD.1
Though COPD patients have been reported to have a higher prevalence of
ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure and lung cancer, the prevalence of
COPD in cardiovascular diseases or malignancy was not high in the current study.
Ischemic heart disease and lung cancer are categorized as common pathway
comorbidities since they are smoking-related diseases as is COPD. Congestive
heart failure is mainly categorized as a complicating comorbidity, since it is easily
induced by pulmonary hypertension, a complication of COPD. Some patients with
these diseases may easily be suspected as having COPD and might have been
already diagnosed with COPD. As we recruited patients who had not been
diagnosed with respiratory diseases in the current study, the prevalence of COPD
in these diseases might not be high.2

Referensi :
1. Minakata Y, Ueda H, Akamatsu K, et al. High COPD patients with liver
disease. Intern Med 49: 2687-2691, 2010
2. Rabe KF, Hurd S, Anzueto A, et al. Global initiative for chronic obstructive
lung disease. Global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: GOLD executive summary. Am J Respir
Crit Care Med 176: 532-555, 2007.