High rate of abdominal aortic calcification in COPD patients and its relationship with musculoskeletal fragility.

Unlabelled: A very high rate of abdominal aortic calcification was observed in patients with COPD. Vascular calcification severity was associated with older age and lower bone mass at the femur in women.

Introduction: Osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and cardiovascular disease are frequent comorbidities in COPD.

Heliox improves oxygen delivery and utilization during dynamic exercise in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Rationale: Normoxic heliox (mixture of 79% He and 21% O(2)) may enhance exercise tolerance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It remains to be determined whether part of these beneficial effects could be ascribed to increased O(2) delivery (O(2)DEL) to locomotor muscles.

Objectives: To investigate the effects of heliox on peripheral O(2)DEL and utilization during exercise in moderate to severe COPD.

Kinetics of muscle deoxygenation are accelerated at the onset of heavy-intensity exercise in patients with COPD: relationship to central cardiovascular dynamics.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have slowed pulmonary O(2) uptake (Vo(2)(p)) kinetics during exercise, which may stem from inadequate muscle O(2) delivery. However, it is currently unknown how COPD impacts the dynamic relationship between systemic and microvascular O(2) delivery to uptake during exercise. We tested the hypothesis that, along with slowed Vo(2)(p) kinetics, COPD patients have faster dynamics of muscle deoxygenation, but slower kinetics of cardiac output (Qt) following the onset of heavy-intensity exercise.