TABLE 3

Correlation analysis between pulmonary, angiological and laboratory parameters in the study population

	COPD GOLD stage		FEV₁ % pred		RV % pred
	Pearson's r	p-value	Pearson's r	p-value	Pearson's r	p-value
Lower extremity artery disease
Fontaine stage	0.413	<0.001	−0.433	<0.001	0.230	0.02
Plaque burden	0.373	<0.001	−0.371	<0.001	0.182	0.05
Stenosis	0.291	0.002	−0.326	<0.001	0.230	0.01
ABI (mean)	−0.385	<0.001	0.386	<0.001	−0.224	0.01
PWI (mean)	0.258	0.007	−0.249	0.01	0.091	0.357
cPWV	0.135	0.211	−0.162	0.13	0.120	0.27
Carotid artery disease
Plaque burden	0.184	0.04	−0.216	0.02	0.040	0.68
Laboratory parameters
Total leukocyte count	0.242	0.008	−0.312	0.001	0.180	0.05
hs-CRP	0.033	0.73	−0.014	0.89	0.051	0.60

COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; GOLD: Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; FEV₁: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; RV: residual volume; ABI: ankle–brachial index; PWI: pulse wave index; cPWV: central pulse wave velocity; hs-CRP: high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Intercohortal comparison was performed by defining controls as COPD GOLD 0 group, p-values refer to data comparison between all five groups (COPD GOLD 0 through D). Pulmonary function parameters are based on post-bronchodilator measurement.