Comparison of Serum Lipid Levels in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Lung Cancer

Aim: Relationship between serum lipid level in chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) and lung cancer was not well documented. In our study we planned to compare serum lipid levels (Total Cholesterol-TC, low density lipoprotein cholesterol-LDL-C, trigliseride-TGL, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol-HDL-C) in these common diseases. Material and Method: We evaluated 100 patients and 50 control group retrospectively. We enrolled the lipid parameters before any medical treatment start. Student's t-test and one-way ANOVA test was used for comparison of the patient characteristics and mean cholesterol level. Results: TC levels were higher in COLD disease than lung cancer group but not statistically significant. TGL levels were higher in lung cancer group than COLD and control group but this was also not statistically significant. Mild-moderate degree COLD patients had lower HDL-C than severe COLD patients (p=0.02). But TC and TGL levels were lower in severe COLD pateints. Small cell lung sancer and non-small lung cancers had statistically significantly lower TC and TGL levels (respectively p=0.04 and p=0.02). Discussion: We estimated that lipid leves of at the beginning of COLD were decreased to provide lipid necessity in cancer tissue due to tumor rapid cell proliferation in cancer, tumor cachexia and increased nutrition problems when developed lung cancer. Larger prospective studies are required to more accurate assessment this issue.