Do Holes in the Lungs Beget Holes in the Bones?

摘要

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is widely accepted as a lung disease with systemic consequences and comorbidities (1). Systemic consequences may be denned as nonpulmonary manifestations of COPD with an immediate cause-and-effect relationship, whereas comorbidities are diseases associated with COPD. Among the most commonly recognized comorbidities are deconditioning, exercise intolerance, skeletal muscle dysfunction, and osteoporosis. Intuitively, one would suspect that these particular comorbidities are interrelated, but to what extent are they consequences of COPD?