Impact of COPD on cardiovascular risk factors and outcomes in people with established cardiovascular disease

Background — Little is known about the association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in people with established CVD. Knowing if COPD is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events would guide appropriate secondary prevention.

Objective — To examine the risk of COPD on major adverse cardiac events (MACEs, acute myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiovascular death) in a complete real-world population of a large province, with known CVD.

Methods — We conducted a retrospective population cohort study using health administration, medication, laboratory, electronic medical record and other data from Ontario, Canada. All people with a history of CVD with and without physician-diagnosed COPD as of 2008 were followed until 2016 and cardiac risk factors, sociodemographic factors, comorbidities and other factors were compared. Sequential cause-specific hazard models adjusting for these factors determined the risk of MACE in people with COPD.

Results — Of 496 056 individuals with CVD in Ontario on 1 January 2008, 69 161 (13.9%) had COPD. MACE occurred more frequently among those with CVD (45.3 per 1000 person-years) and COPD compared with those with CVD alone (28.6 per 1000 person-years) (HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.21–1.26) after adjustment for cardiac risk factors, comorbidities, socioeconomic status and other factors. People with COPD were less likely to receive preventive CVD medications or see a cardiologist.

Conclusion — In a large, real-world population of people with established CVD, COPD was associated with a higher rate of cardiovascular events but a lower rate of preventive therapy. Strategies are needed to improve secondary CVD prevention in the COPD population.