Analysis Of Respiratory Virus Infection Incidence And Risk Factors Of Acute Exacerbation Of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective: 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.Methods: A prospective study was performed for 80 patients with exacerbation of COPD admitted to the Department of Respiratory Medicine Affiliated to Beijing Anzhen Hospital of Capital Medical University from June 2014 to June 2016.There were 57 male and 23 female patients with an average age of(75±8)years.In the same period,50 patients with stable COPD were recruited as control group,including 33 male and 17 female patients,with a mean age of(75±10)years.Nasopharyngeal swabs were tested for a range of 18 different respiratory viruses using PCR.Results: Among the COPD exacerbations,viral infection was detected in 18 episodes(22.5%,18/18).The most common virus was rhinovirus(33.3%,6/80),followed by coronavirus(27.8%),parainfluenza(22.2%),metapneumovirus(11.1%)and influenza B(5.6%).In the control group,4 cases were positive for virus detection,including influenza 2 cases,rhinovirus 1 case and metapneumovirus 1 case.In multivariate regression analysis adjusting for fever subjects was found to be significantly associated with viral infections in COPD exacerbations(P<0.01).Conclusion: Viral respiratory pathogens were found more often in respiratory specimens of hospitalized patients with AECOPD than in control patients.Rhinovirus was the most common infecting agent identified.The symptom of fever was associated with virus detection.