Fisk M, et al. - In this cross-sectional prospective study, researchers tested their hypothesis that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients would have increased aortic inflammation and stiffness, as candidate mechanisms mediating increased cardiovascular risk, compared to two negative control groups: healthy never-smokers and smokers without COPD. Patients with COPD due to alpha_-1 antitrypsin deficiency (_α1ATD) was also studied as a comparator lung disease group. Novel findings encountered included increased aortic inflammation and stiffness in both usual COPD and _α1ATD-COPD patients compared to smoking and never-smoking controls, regardless of smoking history. Findings thereby suggest a correlation between the presence of COPD lung disease and adverse aortic wall changes, and that aortic inflammation and stiffening are potential mechanisms mediating increased vascular risk observed in COPD patients.