Introduction:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one of the most frequent, worldwide. It has impact on mortality, causing significant disability and affecting a considerable number of subjects of productive age. Pulmonary hypertension is a common complication of chronic respiratory diseases, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective:

To describe patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and suspected pulmonary hypertension.

Methods:

A descriptive, prospective study was carried out in 50 patients treated at Benéfico Jurídico Pneumological Hospital from November 2016 to January 2018. Variables such as age, sex, ventilatory function test, chest X-ray, electrocardiogram and the echocardiogram were analyzed.

Results:

Out of 700 patients with chronic lung disease, pulmonary hypertension was suspected in 7% and confirmed in 34. The frequencies by sex were similar and those older than 60 years prevailed. 41.6% of the patients had severe respiratory involvement, 70.6% had mild pulmonary hypertension and 64.7% had grade 3 dyspnea. The kappa indices between the techniques used for the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension exceeded the figure of 0.74.

Conclusions:

The frequency of pulmonary hypertension in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was high. Patients with severe impairment of respiratory function and mild pulmonary hypertension predominated. The degree of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease did not determine the severity of pulmonary hypertension. The highest concordance values between diagnostic techniques were obtained for radiography and echocardiography.

        · resumo em Espanhol     · texto em Espanhol     · Espanhol ( pdf )