A new study from Columbia University Medical Center researchers, has found that the heart’s ability to pump effectively is diminished among people with a common lung disease, even in people with no or mild symptoms. Published in the Jan. 21, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the research is the first to show a strong link between heart function and mild COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, and it is strongly associated with smoking. COPD often involves loss of lung tissue, called emphysema, as well as narrowed airways, persistent cough, and mucus production, known as chronic obstructive bronchitis. Both of these abnormalities impair the flow of air in the lungs and make breathing more difficult over time.

“Heart failure caused by lung disease is well documented in patients with severe COPD, but was not thought to occur in patients with mild COPD,” said Graham Barr, M.D., Dr. PH., assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center, an internist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, principal investigator of the MESA Lung Study, and lead author of the paper.