Association between varicocele and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Characterization of Fertility Clinic Attendees in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study describes the primary and secondary infertility in patients attending fertility clinics and reports factors associated with primary infertility. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two fertility clinics in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE) between December 2020 and May 2021. The collected information covered sociodemographic, lifestyle, medical, and fertility-related characteristics. The mean age and age at marriage (±SD) of the 928 patients were 35.7 (±6.7) and 25.2 (±6.3) years, respectively. Of the total, 72.0% were obese and overweight, 26.6% reported a consanguineous marriage, and 12.5% were smokers. Secondary infertility (62.5%) was more frequent than primary infertility (37.5%). Primary infertility was inversely associated with age (aOR, 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91-0.98) and not being overweight (aOR, 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4-0.9) while positively associated with a nationality other than Middle Eastern nationality (aOR, 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1-3.3), married for ≤5 years (aOR, 6.0, 95% CI: 3.9-9.3), in a nonconsanguineous marriage (aOR, 2.4, 95% CI: 1.5-3.9), having a respiratory disease (aOR, 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1-4.6), an increased age at puberty (aOR, 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0-1.3), and self-reported 6-<12 months (aOR, 2.4, 95% CI: 1.2-5.1) and ≥12 months (aOR, 3.4, 95% CI: 1.8-6.4) infertility. Patients with primary infertility were more likely to be diagnosed with infertility of an ovulation, tubal, or uterine origin (aOR, 3.9, 95% CI: 1.9-7.9). Secondary infertility was more common than primary infertility. Several preventable fertility-related risk factors including overweight, smoking, and diabetes were found to be common among the fertility clinic attendees.

The prevalence of venous insufficiency in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease evaluated by color duplex ultrasonography

OBJECTIVES

We hypothesized that in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) some extrapulmonary effects such as increase in intra-abdominal and intra-thoracic pressures, presence of cor pulmonale and pulmonary artery hypertension could cause venous insufficiency (VI) in the lower limbs. Our aim in this study was to assess the prevalence of VI in patients with COPD in comparison with healthy controls.

METHODS

Thirty-nine male patients with COPD and 36 healthy male controls were evaluated for VI. All the participants were in the same age group and their smoking intensities were similar. Patients with COPD were classified as having mild, moderate, severe or very severe disease according to criteria of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease. All the patients and control group were examined for unilateral or bilateral VI of the common femoral vein, superficial femoral vein, deep femoral vein and popliteal vein using color duplex ultrasonography.

RESULTS

The prevalence of VI of the lower extremity in patients with COPD (69.2%) was significantly higher than in the healthy control group (41.7%). The prevalence increased as the COPD severity increased and VI was detected in all the patients with very severe COPD [mild COPD, 50.0% (2/4); moderate, 58.8% (10/17); severe, 75.0% (9/12); very severe, 100% (6/6)].

CONCLUSION

VI of the lower extremity appears more frequent in patients with COPD. We suggest ruling out COPD in patients with otherwise unexplained "primary" VI.