The Prevalence of Liver Diseases among Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients: Statistics from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Majed Alghamdi
National Guard Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Bussma Ahmed Bugis
Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Saudi Electronic University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Alaa Bugis *
Department of Respiratory Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Nader Alharbi
College of Science and Health Professions, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Saleh Mohammed Alotaibi
Department of Respiratory Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ziyad Hamdan Alanzi
Department of Respiratory Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Yazeed Yousef Almutairi
Department of Respiratory Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Rakan Abdullah Elamro
Department of Respiratory Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Fahad Abdulaziz Aloqayfi
Department of Respiratory Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Omar Abdulaziz Alsalem
Department of Respiratory Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: Alpha-1 antitrypsin is an important protein produced by the liver, and deficiency in this protein will cause many liver diseases. A deficiency in this protein can cause congenital emphysema, characterized by damaged and stretched air sacs of the lungs. To our knowledge, limited studies have been performed on liver disease prevalence among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients in Saudi Arabia.
Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis of existing clinical records and aimed at determining the prevalence and association of liver diseases among COPD patients from 2016 to 2020. A total of 1579 clinical records were collected. In this study we analyzed one hundred fifty-five records.
Results: Senior patients who were aged 65 or older represented most patients (61.29%). In addition, 81% of the selected COPD patients were diagnosed with cirrhosis, while only one patient was diagnosed with fibrosis. Senior COPD patients aged 65 years or older were more likely to be diagnosed clinically with any type of liver disease (61.75%) than those from younger age groups.
Conclusions: Screening and expression tests for patients showing liver and lung diseases are the procedures to determine whether symptoms are due to alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. However, this is challenging in patients with COPD.
Keywords: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, liver disease, liver failure, cirrhosis, AAT alpha-1 antitrypsin