Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsWhen to Seek Emergency CareCausesDiagnosisTreatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Symptoms
When to Seek Emergency Care
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)can lead to swelling, particularly in the feet, ankles, and legs (known as peripheraledema). As COPD impairs your lungs and heart, it affects your circulation, which leads to fluid retention. This swelling can be uncomfortable and limit your activity.
Edema is often a sign of advancing disease and is particularly prevalent in those with end-stage COPD. However, the correlation between swelling and the severity of COPD isn’t necessarily a strict one. For example, you may also experience swelling with mild COPD (especially if you also have kidney disease).
This article looks at the symptoms and causes of peripheral swelling in COPD and why it’s important to call to your healthcare provider’s attention. It also explains how edema is diagnosed and treated.
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Symptoms of COPD-Related Swelling
Leg swelling in COPD can start gradually. It’s usually more noticeable after you’ve been walking or sitting with your legs hanging down for a while.It may improve when you raise your feet or lie down, so it’s common to notice decreased swelling in the morning.
Symptoms of COPD-associated peripheral edema include:
If peripheral edema is due to advanced COPD, you’re likely to also have other symptoms, such as:
What Is Fatigue?
There are several cases in which COPD-related swelling is considered a medical emergency. This is true when swelling is only on one side of the body, it rapidly worsens, or it occurs in both hands, both arms, or the abdomen.
If any of these apply to you, call 911 or go to an emergency room right away.
Asymmetrical Swelling
Edema from COPD is typicallysymmetrical, affecting both legs about equally. If you have foot or leg swelling that is more pronounced on one side versus the other, it may be a sign of another serious problem.
Rapid Progression of Swelling
Edema that rapidly gets worse can indicate a life-threatening situation. COPD symptoms that can occur along with progressive edema include:
When to Go to the Hospital for Rapid Heart Rate
Symmetrical Swelling in Certain Areas
While it isn’t common, COPD can also cause symmetrical edema in the hands, arms, and abdomen.
This is a sign of severe COPD-associated right heart failure.
What Is Right-Sided Heart Failure?
Causes of Leg Swelling in COPD
Leg swelling in COPD is a complex process associated with several factors involving your lungs, heart, oxygen level, kidneys, and fluid balance.
Weight Gain and EdemaWeight gainis often related to fluid buildup in the body, but not always.Your diet can contribute to weight gain when you consume food and drinks with high sodium content. Certain medications, includingcorticosteroids, can lead to fluid retention, as can other health conditions beyond COPD. In some people, weight gain may be hard to distinguish from COPD-related edema.
Weight Gain and Edema
Weight gainis often related to fluid buildup in the body, but not always.Your diet can contribute to weight gain when you consume food and drinks with high sodium content. Certain medications, includingcorticosteroids, can lead to fluid retention, as can other health conditions beyond COPD. In some people, weight gain may be hard to distinguish from COPD-related edema.
Causes of Water Retention and How to Fix It
Other Causes of Pitting Edema
Symptoms and Causes of Pulmonary Edema
Other Causes: Non-Pitting Edema
Causes of One-Sided Edema
Diagnosis of Leg Swelling in COPD
COPD isn’t the only cause of leg and foot edema. You should always talk to your healthcare provider about it.
Peripheral edema is usually diagnosed with noninvasive examinations. Your healthcare provider will look to see if the skin is swollen. They may press lightly on an area to see if it’s pitting edema.
Diagnostic Tests
Your medical team may order some tests to distinguish COPD-associated edema from other types of swelling. This may involve a variety of tests to evaluate your heart, lungs, and blood flow in your extremities. This may include:
Understanding Dangerously Low Oxygen Levels
Treatment of Edema in COPD
COPD can’t be cured. Neither can pulmonary hypertension or cor pulmonale. However, medical and surgical treatments can keep these conditions from getting worse.
Fluid management is an important part of the treatment for leg edema in COPD. It involves lifestyle strategies as well as medication. This includes prescriptiondiuretics(“water pills”), which help your body pass more fluid in the urine.
A few things that you can do at home to help reduce leg swelling in COPD:
Summary
COPD, especially in advanced cases, can cause peripheral edema, or fluid retention. This may make your legs, ankles, and feet swell. The swelling is usually about the same on both sides of your body. It may be pitting, which means pressure causes it to stay indented.
The edema of COPD comes from problems with the heart, lungs, oxygen levels, kidneys, and fluid balance. Not everyone with end-stage COPD has it, and some people have it with mild COPD.
COPD edema is usually diagnosed based on how it looks, combined with a prior diagnosis of COPD. Tests are used to check for other possible causes, such as venous insufficiency and DVT. Treatments for leg and foot swelling in COPD may include diuretics, salt restrictions, and regular exercise.
6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Stickel S, Gin-sing W, Wagenaar M, Gibbs JSR.The practical management of fluid retention in adults with right heart failure due to pulmonary arterial hypertension.Eur Heart J Suppl. 2019;21(Suppl K):K46-K53. doi.10.1093/eurheartj/suz207American Heart Association.Pulmonary hypertension – high blood pressure in the heart-to-lung system.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About pulmonary hypertension.National Library of Medicine.Weight gain – unintentional.American Academy of Family Physicians.What is edema?Trayes KP, Studdiford JS, Pickle S, Tully AS.Edema: Diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2013;88(2):102–110.Additional ReadingHurdman J, Condliffe R, Elliot CA, et al.Pulmonary hypertension in COPD: Results from the ASPIRE registry.Eur Respir J. 2013;41(6):1292–1301. doi:10.1183/09031936.00079512Zangiabadi A, De Pasquale CG, Sajkov D.Pulmonary hypertension and right heart dysfunction in chronic lung disease.Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:739674. doi:10.1155/2014/739674
6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Stickel S, Gin-sing W, Wagenaar M, Gibbs JSR.The practical management of fluid retention in adults with right heart failure due to pulmonary arterial hypertension.Eur Heart J Suppl. 2019;21(Suppl K):K46-K53. doi.10.1093/eurheartj/suz207American Heart Association.Pulmonary hypertension – high blood pressure in the heart-to-lung system.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About pulmonary hypertension.National Library of Medicine.Weight gain – unintentional.American Academy of Family Physicians.What is edema?Trayes KP, Studdiford JS, Pickle S, Tully AS.Edema: Diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2013;88(2):102–110.Additional ReadingHurdman J, Condliffe R, Elliot CA, et al.Pulmonary hypertension in COPD: Results from the ASPIRE registry.Eur Respir J. 2013;41(6):1292–1301. doi:10.1183/09031936.00079512Zangiabadi A, De Pasquale CG, Sajkov D.Pulmonary hypertension and right heart dysfunction in chronic lung disease.Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:739674. doi:10.1155/2014/739674
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Stickel S, Gin-sing W, Wagenaar M, Gibbs JSR.The practical management of fluid retention in adults with right heart failure due to pulmonary arterial hypertension.Eur Heart J Suppl. 2019;21(Suppl K):K46-K53. doi.10.1093/eurheartj/suz207American Heart Association.Pulmonary hypertension – high blood pressure in the heart-to-lung system.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About pulmonary hypertension.National Library of Medicine.Weight gain – unintentional.American Academy of Family Physicians.What is edema?Trayes KP, Studdiford JS, Pickle S, Tully AS.Edema: Diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2013;88(2):102–110.
Stickel S, Gin-sing W, Wagenaar M, Gibbs JSR.The practical management of fluid retention in adults with right heart failure due to pulmonary arterial hypertension.Eur Heart J Suppl. 2019;21(Suppl K):K46-K53. doi.10.1093/eurheartj/suz207
American Heart Association.Pulmonary hypertension – high blood pressure in the heart-to-lung system.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About pulmonary hypertension.
National Library of Medicine.Weight gain – unintentional.
American Academy of Family Physicians.What is edema?
Trayes KP, Studdiford JS, Pickle S, Tully AS.Edema: Diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2013;88(2):102–110.
Hurdman J, Condliffe R, Elliot CA, et al.Pulmonary hypertension in COPD: Results from the ASPIRE registry.Eur Respir J. 2013;41(6):1292–1301. doi:10.1183/09031936.00079512Zangiabadi A, De Pasquale CG, Sajkov D.Pulmonary hypertension and right heart dysfunction in chronic lung disease.Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:739674. doi:10.1155/2014/739674
Hurdman J, Condliffe R, Elliot CA, et al.Pulmonary hypertension in COPD: Results from the ASPIRE registry.Eur Respir J. 2013;41(6):1292–1301. doi:10.1183/09031936.00079512
Zangiabadi A, De Pasquale CG, Sajkov D.Pulmonary hypertension and right heart dysfunction in chronic lung disease.Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:739674. doi:10.1155/2014/739674
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