Over a quarter of people with heart disease may also be living with chronic lung disease without knowing it, according to new research presented at The British Thoracic Society (BTS) Annual Winter Meeting. The researchers believe that if heart patients were screened, and lung disease was spotted earlier and treated, it could help to improve health outcomes.
Calls to screen heart patients for COPD
The study conducted by Imperial College, London School of Medicine and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, analysed whether a simple breathing test (spirometry) could be performed in cardiology clinics to identify undiagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A total of 163 patients (107 male, 56 female) took part in the spirometry testing and over a quarter of the patients tested (26.4%) demonstrated airflow obstruction – a key sign of COPD.
