 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD is a common smoking-related lung disease. Patients with COPD are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks and strokes. A simple measurement called arterial stiffness is a good assessment of how likely people are to have cardiovascular disease, both in healthy populations and those with COPD. Aortic Pulse wave velocity aPWV measures arterial stiffness, 