Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2016 October, 240(2)

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Respiratory Viral Infections in Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

HYUN JUNG KWAK,¹ DONG WON PARK,¹ JEE EUN KIM,¹ MIN KYUNG PARK,¹ GUN WOO KOO,¹ TAI SUN PARK,¹ JI-YONG MOON,¹ TAE HYUNG KIM,¹ JANG WON SOHN,¹ HO JOO YOON,¹ DONG HO SHIN¹ and SANG-HEON KIM¹

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) lead to high morbidity and mortality. Respiratory virus infection is considered as one of the important causes of COPD exacerbations. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of respiratory virus infection in COPD exacerbations and to find the factors associated with susceptibility to viral infections. Furthermore, we tried to examine if COPD exacerbations caused by viral infections have more severe clinical outcomes in comparison with those with non-viral causes. We enrolled the patients with acute exacerbations of COPD who were hospitalized in a university hospital, over a 2-year period. Nasopharyngeal swabs were taken and viruses were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. A total of 278 episodes of COPD exacerbations were recorded in 213 patients with COPD (number of females = 73). Among the COPD exacerbations, viral infection was detected in 78 episodes (28.1%) from 67 subjects. The most common virus was rhinovirus (38.8%), followed by respiratory syncytial virus, coronavirus, influenza A, parainfluenza, adenovirus and metapneumovirus. In multivariate regression analysis adjusting for sex, age, BMI, lung function and history of exacerbations, female subjects were found to be significantly associated with viral infections in COPD exacerbations (Odds ratio 2.58, 95%CI 1.25-5.31, P = 0.010). The severity of COPD exacerbations were not different between positive and negative viral detections. In conclusion, the prevalence of viral infection was 28.1% in the hospitalized patients with COPD exacerbations. Moreover, female subjects are at significantly higher risk for viral infections in COPD exacerbations.

keywords —— chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; exacerbation; infection; multiplex polymerase chain reaction; respiratory virus

© 2016 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2016, 240, 131-139

Correspondence: Sang-Heon Kim, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea.

e-mail: sangheonkim@hanyang.ac.kr