Heart disease, asthma linked: Study

B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital and Chest Research Foundation CRF jointly conducted a study which established an association between Obstructive Airways Diseases OAD and presence of ischemic heart disease angina or heart attacks.

B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital and Chest Research Foundation CRF jointly conducted a study which established an association between Obstructive Airways Diseases OAD and presence of ischemic heart disease angina or heart attacks. Patients who have ischemic heart disease were four times more likely to have OAD as compared to those who did not have the ailment.

Obstructive Airway Diseases, which primarily includes asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease COPD, are a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in India. Smoking, occupational exposures and exposure to air pollutants are major risk factors for the development of OADs.

A large number of patients remain undiagnosed and therefore untreated, said Dr Sundeep Salvi, Director of CRF. Lung function testing, known as spirometry, is done to make a definitive diagnosis of OAD. Sadly, this investigation is not used frequently by doctors and hence asthma and COPD remain underdiagnosed.

Hence doctors from BJMC and CRF, aimed at determining the prevalence of OAD in patients having ischemic heart disease and hypertension have compared it with the healthy population. A total of 122 patients having ischemic heart disease, suffering from hypertension and visiting Sassoon and 135 healthy people comprised the study. A detailed questionnaire captured their demography, smoking status and current illness. Spirometry was performed. It was found that the prevalence of OAD in the healthy population was 3 per cent, while that in the other group of patients with IHD- the prevalence was 20 per cent. The prevalence in patients with hypertension was eight per cent and in patients with IHD and hypertension was 13.5 per cent.

This study highlights a significantly high prevalence of OAD among patients with IHD and hypertension.

The study, judged by a panel of international experts, was awarded the second best paper award at the National Pulmonary Conference at Nagpur. The panel of judges had experts, like President of the European Respiratory Society and President of the American Thoracic Society. Dr Nainesh Patel was the researcher from the Department of Respiratory Disease, BJ Medical College who received the award. He will now present the paper at the European Respiratory Society Conference in Sweden next year.