COPD and metabolic syndrome: an intriguing association

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) has been recently recognized a condition involving not only the lungs. The presence of common factors in COPD and in other chronic extrapulmonary diseases, as well as the co-existence of these conditions in the same adult individual, support the hypothesis of a shared pathogenetic pathway.We will here review the interplay role between coexisting COPD and Metabolic Syndrome (MS), based on the most updated knowledge we will discuss this clinical condition from the definition, to the pathophysiology, and to the clinical implications.Basically, MS is more likely to be present in a COPD patients, and increased levels of circulatory pro-inflammatory proteins from both the lung and the adipose tissue coincide in these patients.Actually, the relative impact of the coexisting COPD and MS may depend on several factors: mainly the presence of physical inactivity and of systemic inflammation related to smoking habit,sedentary lifestyle, airways inflammation and obstruction, adipose tissue and inflammatory markers activation. More studies will be required to elucidate the association between COPD and MS andto formulate individualized management approaches for this specific disease phenotype.