Abstract:

Objective To investigate the effect of thyroid function changes on the number of acute exacer⁃ bations and the decrease of lung function in COPD patients. Methods 80 patients with COPD and 72 healthy con⁃ trols were included continuously. The forced expiratory volume in the first second（FEV1），forced vital capacity （FVC）and the ratio（FEV1/FVC），serum thyroid stimulating hormone（TSH），free triiodothyronogen Amino acid （FT3），free tetraiodothyronine（FT4），total triiodothyronine（TT3），total tetraiodothyronine（TT4）were mea⁃ sured for the two groups of subjects；the above indicators were retested after 1 year of follow-up，and the number of acute exacerbations were counted. Results The FEV1，FVC，FEV1/FVC，TT3 and FT3 in the COPD group were significantly lower than those in the control group（all P < 0.05）. In both the two groups，the indicators of TT4，FT4 and TSH were not significantly different（all P > 0.05）；FEV1，FVC，FEV1/FVC，TT3，and FT3 in COPD group were lowered compared with that of 1 year ago（P < 0.05）. TT4，FT4，TSH indicators were not lower than 1 year ago，and these were no significant changes（all P > 0.05）；FEV1，FVC，FEV1/FVC，TT3，FT3， TT4，FT4，and TSH had no significant changes in patients in the control group compared with 1 year ago（all P > 0.05）；In COPD group，the decline of TT3 and FT3 has significantly positive correlation with the decline of FEV1，FVC，FEV1/FVC and the number of acute exacerbations of COPD（all P < 0.01）. Conclusion There were obvious changes about thyroid function in COPD patients. The decrease of T3 level was closely related to the decrease in lung function and the number of acute exacerbations in COPD patients.

Key words:

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, thyroid hormone, forced expiratory volume in the first second, forced vital capacity, number of acute exacerbations