Common antihypertensive drugs and their effect on pulmonary hypertension in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

This project investigates whether commonly used antihypertensive drugs influence pulmonary pressures in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Specifically, we examine tricuspid regurgitation pressure (TRP) on transthoracic echocardiography as a proxy for mean pulmonary arterial pressure and explore its association with different classes of antihypertensive medication and long-term oxygen therapy. The dataset consists of de-identified, retrospectively collected clinical data from patients with verified COPD who underwent echocardiography at Odense University Hospital. Variables include demographic information (age, sex, body mass index), smoking history, COPD severity (GOLD stage and spirometry parameters: FEV₁, FVC, FEV₁/FVC), cardiac comorbidities, medication use (antihypertensive drug classes and long-term oxygen therapy), and detailed echocardiographic parameters related to right heart structure and function (e.g. TRP, estimated systolic pulmonary artery pressure, TAPSE, RV/LV ratio, right ventricular dimensions, and qualitative markers of right heart strain).