Analysis of clinical characteristics of patients with pulmonary hypertension in Chaya County, Chamdo, Tibet

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a critical health issue marked by high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries, with limited data on its clinical characteristics in the Tibetan population. The objective of this study was to examine the clinical characteristics of PH patients among Tibetan population residing in Chaya County, Changdu, Tibet. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. A total of 94 PH patients diagnosed via echocardiography at the Internal Medicine Department of Chaya County People's Hospital in Changdu (Tibet, China) between March 2019 and October 2020 were included. Additionally, 52 non-PH inpatients were selected as the control group. Patient medical records were reviewed for demographic and clinical data, lab results, and echocardiographic findings. Student's t-test/chi-squared test between PH and control group, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) among control and PH subgroups, Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used to analysis the results. Results: Out of 1,689 inpatients in the Internal Medicine Department, 94 were identified as PH patients for analysis. The average hemoglobin level among PH patients (150.64 +/- 21.67 g/L) was similar to that observed in the normal population (146.65 +/- 17.51 g/L) at high altitude (P=0.28). Abnormal liver function indexes were observed, with 51.06% of PH patients exhibiting hyperuricemia (P<0.001 compared to control's 15.38%). The PH group demonstrated significantly elevated red blood cell distribution width (RDW)-standard deviation (50.59 +/- 6.49 vs. 43.67 +/- 3.40 fL, P<0.001) and RDW-coefficient of variation of (16.18%+/- 3.04% vs. 13.52%+/- 1.32%, P<0.001), along with a decreased platelet level compared to the control group [(202.55 +/- 73.67) vs. (256.63 +/- 72.85) x10(9)/L]. Furthermore, echocardiographic indicators related to right heart function showed correlations with red blood cell count, bilirubin, albumin, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (multiple significant correlation coefficient r, magnitude from 0.22 to 0.54). Conclusions: Chronic pulmonary disease and left heart disease were identified as common etiologies of PH among Tibetan patients residing in high-altitude regions. The Tibetan population residing in high-altitude regions and diagnosed with PH displayed abnormal changes in numerous liver functional and metabolic indices, which were correlated with the morphological indices observed via cardiac ultrasound.