CHRONIC RESPIRATORY ILLNESS AS A PREDICTOR OF SURVIVAL IN IDIOPATHIC DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY - THE WASHINGTON, DC, DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY STUDY

Although bronchial asthma and emphysema have been associated with idio pathic dilated cardiomyopathy in case-control studies, little is known about the prognostic importance of chronic respiratory disease in idi opathic dilated cardiomyopathy,To study this, we examined history of b ronchial asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and respiratory med ication use as possible predictors of survival in idiopathic dilated c ardiomyopathy using data from a Washington, DC, population-based study (n=129), The cumulative survival rates among patients with a history of emphysema or chronic bronchitis were 60% and 48% at 12 and 36 month s, respectively, compared with 81.8% and 67.2% among patients without emphysema or chronic bronchitis, The survival rates of idiopathic dila ted cardiomyopathy patients with and without a history of bronchial as thma at the time of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy diagnosis were s imilar. In multivariate analysis using the proportional hazards model, only ventricular arrhythmias and ejection fraction were found to be s tatistically significant predictors of survival in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, The adjusted relative risk estimate for emphysema and chronic bronchitis was close to one,Thus, the results of this populati on-based study do not suggest that history of chronic respiratory illn ess is an independent predictor of survival in idiopathic dilated card iomyopathy.