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February 28th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda MONDAY, Feb. 27 (HealthDay News) — Reduced lung function and
obstructive airway disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD) increase the risk of heart failure, a new study has found.
In patients with heart failure, the heart can’t pump enough blood to
meet the body’s needs.
For the new study, researchers analyzed data from 16,000 people in the
United States, aged 45 to 64, who took part in the Atherosclerosis Risk in
Communities study and were followed for an average of 15 years.
The results showed that the long-term risk of developing heart failure
increased as lung function decreased. Lung function was determined using
a test known as forced expiratory volume (FEV1) by spirometry, which
measures how much air a person can exhale in one second.
The findings did not change even after the researchers accounted for
age, prior heart disease or cardiovascular disease risk factors such as
smoking.
The results, published in the Feb. 25 issue of the European Journal
of Heart Failure, support a link between low lung capacity and
development of heart failure, said first author Dr. Sunil Agarwal, from
the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
“This risk, given a low FEV1, is similar in magnitude — and may be
stronger — than that seen for common and modifiable risk factors such as
diabetes or hypertension. The public health implications are huge,
particularly since smoking and air pollution affect lung function
adversely,” Agarwal said in a journal news release.
“So it will be important to determine whether interventions that
sustain or improve FEV1 are associated with lower risk of heart failure,”
Agarwal added.
The researchers noted that it’s common for patients with heart failure
to have COPD, and vice versa. But only recently has prior COPD been shown
to be a long-term risk factor for heart failure.
An editorial accompanying the study said that the report “strengthens
the hypothesis that pulmonary obstruction itself is a major risk factor
for heart failure.”
The editorial also stated that “thinking of heart failure as a possible
cause in any patient with shortness of breath and fatigue, or an increase
in such symptoms, irrespective of other disease labels, including COPD,
means that physicians need to ‘reset’ their clinical reasoning,” and
reconsider their patients’ drug treatment plans.
While the study uncovered an association between poor lung function and
heart failure, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has more about heart failure.
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