Chest
Decreased C4 Complement Component Serum Levels Correlate With the Degree of Emphysema in Patients With Chronic Bronchitis
Section snippets
Patients—Inclusion Criteria
Among 45 consecutive patients with established chronic airflow obstruction (FEV1/FVC ratio <85% of predicted), we recruited only those patients who fulfilled the following inclusion criteria: (1) age range between 60 and 75 years; (2) smoking history of >30 pack-years (range, 30 to 48 pack-years) but with abstinence from smoking for at least 5 years prior to the study; (3) history and clinical assessment fulfilling the criteria of chronic bronchitis;5’6 (4) absence of reversibility of the
Results
Our 20-patient study group (age, 68±1 years; 19 men and one woman) had an incidence of infective exacerbations during the past 3 years equal to 11±0.5 episodes (range, 9 to 15 episodes). Serum levels of C3 and C4 in the study group were 124±9 and 28.5±2 mg/dL, respectively. Control subjects had C3 and C4 levels of 141 ±3 (higher but not significantly different) and 39 ±2 (significantly higher, p=0.001) mg/dL, respectively. The mean body weight of our patients was 97±2% of ideal (range, 91 to
Discussion
Findings arising from this study showed that for patients with chronic bronchitis experiencing recurrent respiratory tract infections, measurements of C3 and C4 serum levels fell within the lower normal limits and C4 serum levels differed significantly from those measured in the control subjects. Also, low C4 serum levels correlated with an increased incidence of respiratory infections, a high emphysema score on chest radiograph, an increased RV/TLC ratio and Kst, as well as a reduction in the
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