Blood reflects acute exacerbation risk and inflammation in elderly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

This study intended to investigate the ability of blood to estimate acute exacerbation risk in elderly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Blood was detected in 176 elderly COPD patients (aged more than 60 years). was elevated in patients with COPD acute exacerbation versus patients with stable COPD ( < 0.001). In patients with COPD acute exacerbation, was negatively related to forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ( = 0.024) and FEV% predicted ( = 0.002), but positively linked with global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease stage ( = 0.005). Blood reflects increased acute exacerbation risk and inflammation in elderly COPD patients.