Pulmonary function may be a marker of risk for cardiometabolic diseases and cardiometabolic multimorbidity, according to a recent study reported in the journal Chest.

Li et al sought to investigate any association of pulmonary function and incident cardiometabolic diseases and cardiometabolic multimorbidity. For this, they examined data from the UK Biobank of 357,433 persons without any cardiometabolic disease at baseline, categorized as stage I and 35,034 individuals with one cardiometabolic disease at the time of their enrolment in the study, categorized as stage II. Their pulmonary functions (FVC or FEV1) were measured. For the purpose of the study, cardiometabolic multimorbidity was defined as the presence of at least two cardiometabolic diseases - coronary heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

About 8.47% of the study participants developed a single cardiometabolic disease, while 0.82% developed cardiometabolic multimorbidity. A distinct association between FVC and new-onset cardiometabolic multimorbidity and type 2 diabetes was noted in stage 1 participants. Compared to the lowest quartile (quartile 1), those in quartile 4 of FVC were at a greater risk of type 2 diabetes alone with an adjusted odds ratio of 0.534, stroke alone (aOR 0.817) and coronary heart disease alone (aOR 0.8); the aOR for cardiometabolic multimorbidity in this group was 0.525.

Stage II participants in the fourth quartile of FVC were found to be at higher risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity. The hazard ratio was 0.727 in patients with type 2 diabetes, 0.783 in those with stroke and 0.635 in patients with coronary heart disease. Researchers reported similar findings for FEV1.

In this study, the probability of developing type 2 diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease was higher in patients in the fourth quartile of FVC and FEV1. By demonstrating significant associations between decreasing pulmonary function and increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases including multiple comorbidities, this study has highlighted the potential role of PFTs as screening tool for cardiometabolic diseases and early identification of high risk persons for timely implementation of preventive strategies.

Reference

1. Li G, et al. Role of pulmonary function in predicting new-onset cardiometabolic diseases and cardiometabolic multimorbidity. Chest. 2022 Jan 12;S0012-3692(22)00036-8. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2021.12.663.