Changes of the level of C reactive protein in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and its clinical significance

Objective: To observe C-reactive protein(CRP) level variation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) and to investigate its clinical significance.Methods: The serum CRP level of 64 patients with COPD at acute exacerbation(AECOPD) and 62 patients at stable stage was measured,and the white blood cells(WBC) and percentage of neutrophils(NE%) were also collected.Results: The serum CRP level of AECOPD patients(53.8±15.3) mg/L was significantly higher than that of the patients at the stable stage(6.4±5.8) mg/L(P<0.01);the positive rate of the serum CRP of AECOPD patients was significantly higher(96.88%) than that of WBC(P<0.01) and NE%(P<0.05).Conclusions: The serum CRP level of COPD patients increases significantly at the acute exacerbation stage and it is a preferential index in diagnosis of AECOPD.