Effects of smoking on lung mucociliary movement and pulmonary function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and healthy people

Abstract

Objective To observe the effects of smoking on lung mucociliary movement and pulmonary function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy people. Methods Ninety-two patients with COPD (COPD group) were selected, including 48 smoking patients (COPD smoking group) and 44 non-smoking patients (COPD non-smoking group). Another 76 healthy people (control group) were selected, including 37 smokers (control smoking group) and 39 non-smokers (control non-smoking group). The saccharin test and pulmonary function were carried out respectively, including mucociliary clearance time (MCT), forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expired volume in 1 s (FEV1), and the ratio of FEV1 and FVC (FEV1/FVC) and FEV1 percentage of predicted (FEV1%pre) were calculated. Results The MCT in COPD group was significantly higher than that in control group: (26.17 ± 19.23) min vs. (15.28 ± 11.34) min, the FEV1/FVC and FEV1%pre were significantly lower than those in control group: (54.25 ± 12.76)% vs. (83.04 ± 5.98)% and (53.26±9.84)% vs. (85.38 ± 5.72)%, and there were statistical differences (P 0.05). The Pearson correlation analysis result showed that there was positive correlation between MCT and smoking intensity, age (r= 0.346 and 0.256, P<0.05), and there was negative correlation between MCT and FEV1/FVC, FEV1%pre (r=-0.327 and-0.414, P<0.05). Conclusions Smoking can destroy the mucociliary function and aggravate the deterioration of lung function in patients with COPD. Key words: Pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive; Smoking; Respiratory function tests; Saccharin; Mucociliary clearance