1. To clarify the relationship between nocturnal oxygen desaturation and erythropoietin production in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, we determined arterial oxygen saturation and serum immunoreactive erythropoietin levels over 24 h in eight patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and in nine normal subjects.
2. In the normal subjects, there was a significant circadian variation in serum erythropoietin levels with the highest mean deviation from the geometric mean at 22.00 hours and the nadir at 05.00 hours.
3. The three patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with the most marked nocturnal desaturation (lowest arterial oxygen saturation <57%) and most marked daytime hypoxaemia (daytime arterial partial pressure of oxygen < 6 kPa) had raised nocturnal serum erythropoietin levels. In two of these patients, the serum erythropoietin level was raised throughout the 24 h and erythrocyte mass was also raised. In the other patient, the serum erythropoietin level was not raised in five daytime samples and erythrocyte mass was normal.
4. The other five patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with less severe nocturnal hypoxaemia (lowest arterial oxygen saturation range 78–86%) had serum erythropoietin levels (range 14–36 m-i.u./ml) which were indistinguishable from normal (range 12–44 m-i.u./ml) and showed circadian changes which were not significantly different (P = 0.35) from those in the normal subjects.
5. Thus, mild nocturnal oxygen desaturation is not associated with elevation of serum erythropoietin levels, whereas daytime hypoxaemia with associated severe nocturnal desaturation is associated with increased serum erythropoietin levels both by day and by night.
