Abstract: Objective: To investigate the respiratory virus infection condition in elderly inpatients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD).Methods: The serum virus-specific IgM antibody in 82 patients with AECOPD were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.Results: The positive virus IgM antibodies in 45 cases were detected,and the single virus infection in 27 cases and mixed virus infection in 18 cases were identified.The influenza B virus(IFV-B) was the most common,followed by influenza virus A (IFV-A).The positive rates of IFV-B and IFV-A IgM antibodies in the 60 to 69 year old patients were significantly higher than those in more than 70 years old patients(P<0.05).The differences of the positive rates of respiratory syncytial virus,adenovirus and parainfluenza virus IgM antibodies between different ages patients were not statistically significant(P>0.05).The differences of the distributions of five respiratory viruses in different sex and month patients were not statistically significant(P>0.05).Conclusions: AECOPD is closely related to the respiratory virus infection,especially for influenza virus,which should be actively prevented in the epidemic season.