Pulmonary function in patient with ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Aim: To determine the type and frequency of pulmonary involvement in patients with UC and to determine the distribution of pulmonary dysfunction in patients with UC. Methods: A total of 39 cases of UC, were enrolled consecutively in this study from the Department of Gastroenterology. The age, sex, family history, duration of disease, biochemical parameters (CRP, ESR, blood routine test, etc.), lung function, chest X-ray, diagnoses, and treatments were collected. Patients and controls underwent standard pulmonary function testing. Comparisons of rates among multiple groups were done with Fisher exact test, continuous variables were compared with one-way ANOVA. Results: According to the true love index, the severity of active UC was moderate and severe among 36.7% and 63.3% of subjects respectively. The pulmonary function test “FCV” showed reduced mean FCV among subjects with active UC (2.86±0.77 litres) and inactive UC (3.91±0.62 litres) as compared to controls (4.04±1.14 litres). Among the patients with deranged PFT, 1 (7.6%) had obstructive, 7 (53.8%) had small airway disease and 5 (38.6%) had a restrictive pattern of lung involvement. Conclusion: Subclinical pulmonary dysfunction is frequent in UC and dependent on disease activity. Some alterations were sub-clinical and some of the patients showed troublesome pulmonary symptoms.