Study of Levels of Plasma Fibrinogen and its Association with Disease Severity in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

COPD has been recognized as a component of the systemic inflammatory syndrome. A commonly used indicator of the severity and progression of the disease in COPD is expiratory volume per second (FEV1). However, it is weakly associated with symptoms and administration difficulties in elderly patients. Therefore, there is a need for other markers that are better and easy to apply to sick and elderly patients. Plasma fibrinogen can be used as a marker of disease severity. Aim: To estimate the plasma fibrinogen level in patients with COPD and Relationship of levels of plasma fibrinogen with the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using the BODE classification and GOLD staging. Place and Duration: In the Medicine Unit-II of Jinnah Hospital Lahore for one-year duration from August 2020 to August 2021. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 110 COPD patients were assessed by measuring plasma fibrinogen correlated with disease severity using the GOLD scale, BODE index and the 6-minute walk test. Results: Plasma fibrinogen is present in all COPD patients. A significant correlation was observed between the BODE index (r = 0.69, p <0.001), gold grading (r = 0.95, p <0.001) and plasma fibrinogen levels. Most of the 110 subjects (34.5%) were Grade II, then Grade III 30.9%, 18.1% Grade IV and 14.5% Grade I. In our study, it was found that the average level of fibrinogen increased with the increase in the GOLD stage, which was statistically significant, and the p value was 0.01. Conclusions: Plasma fibrinogen levels are significantly higher in COPD and can be used as a marker correlating with disease severity in COPD. Keywords: COPD; plasma fibrinogen; GOLDEN stage; BODE index.