International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | June 2017 | Vol 5 | Issue 6 Page 2669 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Gupta S et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017 Jun;5(6):2669-2673 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Cardiac troponin I as mortality predictor in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Seema Gupta 1 *, Varinder Saini 2 , Jasbinder Kaur 1 , Shivani Jaswal 1 , Harjeet Kaur 1 , Sumeet Kaur 1 INTRODUCTION Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The World Health Organization has predicted that by 2020, COPD will become the third leading cause of death and fifth leading cause of disability worldwide. 1 It has considerable impact on health care system at both primary and tertiary care levels and is an important public health challenge that is both preventable and treatable. COPD is nowadays considered as a chronic inflammatory disease with extra pulmonary manifestations. Cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, lung cancer, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and depression are amongst a few of them. 2 Cardiovascular disease is a major morbidity in patients with COPD and is associated 1 Department of Biochemistry, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India 2 Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India Received: 05 April 2017 Accepted: 28 April 2017 *Correspondence: Dr. Seema Gupta, E-mail: dr.seemasingla@yahoo.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: Comorbidities are important determinants of outcome and quality of life of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The risk of cardiovascular events in COPD patients is three to five-fold high. COPD is often associated with right ventricular hypertrophy and pulmonary hypertension. Various studies have associated levels of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) with severity and duration of acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD). The objective of the present study was to assess the usefulness of serum cTnI as mortality predictor in AECOPD patients. Methods: An observational, prospective and non interventional study was conducted in 50 patients with AECOPD admitted in the pulmonary medicine emergency or ward of a tertiary care hospital of Northern India. AECOPD was diagnosed according to Global Initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease guidelines. cTnI levels were estimated within 24 hours of admission by method based on chemiluminiscence along with routine investigations. Levels ≥ 0.01ng/ml were taken as positive. The patients were followed up for 30days for outcome in terms of mortality and morbidity. Data was entered and analyzed by SPSS package and two sided p values<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The serum cTnI was found to be positive in 34% of patients with AECOPD. The in- hospital mortality was significantly low in patients having cTnI <0.01ng/ml as compared to patients with cTnI ≥0.01ng/ml. The patients with cTnI levels ≥0.01ng/ml had significantly higher mean PaCO2 levels and higher requirement for invasive or noninvasive ventilation during hospital stay as compared to patients having cTnI <0.01ng/ml (p=0.04 and 0.016 respectively). Conclusions: Levels of cTnI≥0.01ng/ml may be considered as a biomarker to predict mortality in AECOPD patients. Keywords: AECOPD, cTnI, Mortality, Outcome DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20172467