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Patients suffering from COPD must be screened for peripheral neuropathy.
Owing to the relatively common relationship and the added burden that polyneuropathy (PNP) places on the quality of life, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) patients should undergo optimum screening measures for early diagnosis of PNP. There is a close connection between COPD and the nervous system, and even after adjusting for the main confounding risk factors like smoking and age, patients still have an increased risk of depression, dementia, stroke, and other psychiatric and neurological conditions.
Better screening methods are required to detect PNP, which continues to be prevalent comorbidity among patients with COPD, and to enhance patients' quality of life. Data on the connection between peripheral nervous system pathology and COPD are scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the connection between PNP and COPD and elucidate their pathophysiological links. Data from 21 research were evaluated. Adults (mean age 55-65 years) with COPD were included in all investigations. Major comorbidity among COPD patients was peripheral neuropathy.
People in the study populations had a prevalence of peripheral neuropathy ranging from 15% to 93.8%. Majority of these cases had axonal sensory PNP. Most investigations found that the lower limbs were more severely affected by neuropathy than the upper limbs. Peripheral neuropathy also increased with the duration of disease and severity of hypoxemia in the majority of the trials that were reported; the longer the period and more severe the hypoxia, the more severe the peripheral neuropathy.
Overall, poor diet, advanced age, systemic inflammation, COPD drugs, smoking, and higher partial pressure of carbon dioxide (hypercapnia) were all possible predisposing factors for PNP in COPD people, in addition to chronic hypoxemia. Various methods to treat peripheral neuropathy in COPD patients were documented. Neuroprotection using hormones including progesterone, corticosteroids, and neuronal growth factors are alternatives for prophylaxis, albeit none have demonstrated particularly high levels of efficacy. Muscarinic antagonist topical therapy has demonstrated some potential and might be a useful therapeutic option.
With regard to PNP-related diabetic leg ulcers, oxygen support, such as hyperbaric oxygen treatment, has shown to be effective in resolving the condition. It has also improved quality-of-life scores and pain-related symptoms. Although PNP is frequently found in COPD patients, it has not been found to be correlated with the severity of the disease.
Furthermore, the recent data show no correlation between the degree of obstruction and PNP, GOLD classification, and COPD stages. Despite the lack of currently available COPD-specific PNP screening tools, the data support the clinical and electrodiagnostic screening of all COPD patients for PNP.
Medscape
Screen COPD Patients for Peripheral Neuropathy
Heidi Splete
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