Objective This study aims to investigate the changes of inflammatory markers of oropharynx and its correlation with prognosis in the stable phase of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods Sixty-two patients with COPD in stable stage were divided into smoking and non-smoking groups, and 31 healthy persons were selected as controls. The pharyngeal swabs were collected to determine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-8 (IL-8), collagen type Ⅳ (COL-4), and fibronectin (FN) by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Meanwhile, eosinophil count and C-reactive protein (CRP) in peripheral blood were measured. The correlations between the above metrics and COPD and the prognosis of the patients were analyzed. Results TNF-α, IL-8, COL-4, FN and CRP levels in patients with COPD were significantly higher compared with control groups (P<0.05), and there were significant differences between smoking and non-smoking groups in inflammatory markers such as TNF-α, IL-8, FN, CRP (P<0.05). The forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and FEV1%pred of patients with COPD were significantly lower than the control group (P<0.05). The smoking index of patients with COPD in smoking group was significantly higher than that in smoking control group (P<0.05). TNF- α and IL-8 were positively associated with blood CRP in patients with COPD. Conclusion The inflammatory markers of oropharynx in patients with COPD are different from those in healthy persons and smoking may promote the increase of inflammatory markers of oropharynx in patients with COPD; the non-invasive detection of paired pharyngeal inflammatory markers may be helpful in determining acute onset and prognosis.
