Changes of inflammatory factor levels in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis and the association with severity of tuberculosis

Abstract

Objective To explore the changes of inflammatory factor levels in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis and the relationship with severity of tuberculosis. Methods A total of 82 patients with COPD, 69 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 75 patients with COPD complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis (26 cases in mild group, 26 cases in moderate group, 23 cases in severe group) in Central Hospital of Shaoxing and Shaoxing Municipal Hospital from December 2016 to Junuary 2018 were enrolled. The changes of inflammatory factor levels were observed in these patients, and the correlation with the severity of tuberculosis was analyzed. Results The levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IFNγ, soluble interleukin 2 receptors (sIL-2R) were (54.67±11.03) ng/L, (45.23±9.12) ng/L, (42.32±8.15) ng/L and (173.38±32.30) pmol/L in the pulmonary tuberculosis group, and (70.85±13.16) ng/L, (47.56±10.08) ng/L, (45.28±9.82) ng/L, and (210.65±40.81) pmol/L in COPD complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis group, which were all higher than those in COPD group (P all 0.05) . The levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IFNγ and sIL-2R were (69.87±11.22) ng/L, (45.59±9.17) ng/L, (45.87±8.07) ng/L, (215.35±42.62) pmol/L in moderate group, and (79.51±14.36) ng/L, (56.74±11.22) ng/L, (52.36±10.24) ng/L and (246.27±48.66) pmol/L in severe group, which were significantly higher than those in mild group (P all<0.05) . The levels in severe group were significantly higher than those in moderate group (P all<0.05) . The inflammatory factors of TNF-α, IL-6, IFNγ and sIL-2R showed positive significant correlations with severity of tuberculosis (r=0.557, 0.657, 0.659 and 0.533, P all <0.05) . Conclusions The imbalance of inflammatory factors in patients with COPD complicated with tuberculosis is more serious than that in COPD or pulmonary tuberculosis. The severer the pulmonary tuberculosis is, the more serious the imbalance of inflammatory factors is. Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary; TNF-α; IL-6; Pathological change; Relationship