Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide for Diagnosing Exacerbation in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Background: Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is the most abundant neuropeptide in the lung. VIP has been linked to pulmonary arterial hypertension and hypoxia.

Objectives: We aimed to assess circulating VIP levels at exacerbation and at stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to evaluate the diagnostic performance in a well-characterized cohort of COPD patients.

Methods: The nested cohort study included patients with Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease stage II-IV. Patients were examined at stable state and at acute exacerbation of COPD (AE-COPD), and dedicated serum was collected at both conditions. Serum VIP levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Diagnostic accuracy was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve (AUC).

Results: Patients with acute exacerbation (n = 120) and stable COPD (n = 163) had similar characteristics at baseline. Serum VIP levels did not correlate with oxygen saturation at rest (p = 0.722) or at exercise (p = 0.168). Serum VIP levels were significantly higher at AE-COPD (130.25 pg/ml, 95% CI 112.19-151.83) as compared to stable COPD (40.07 pg/ml, 95% CI 37.13-43.96, p < 0.001). The association of increased serum VIP with AE-COPD remained significant after propensity score matching (p < 0.001). Analysis of the Youden index indicated the optimal serum VIP cutoff value as 56.6 pg/ml. The probability of AE-COPD was very low if serum VIP was ≤35 pg/ml (sensitivity >90%) and very high if serum VIP was ≥88 pg/ml (specificity >90%). Serum VIP levels presented a robust performance to diagnose AE-COPD (AUC 0.849, 95% CI 0.779-0.899).

Conclusions: Increased serum VIP levels are associated with AE-COPD.