Objective  The explore effect of anti-platelet therapy in treatment of elderly patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD).

  Methods  Eighty patients with AECOPD were randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 40 cases in each group. The control group was treated with conventional treatment, while the observation group was treated with aspirin enteric-coated tablets on the basis of the control group. Therapeutic effect was compared between two groups.

  Results  After treatment, the levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and hypersensitive Creactive protein (hs-CRP) in both groups were significantly lower than those before treatment (P < 0.05), and these indexes in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). After treatment, the forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV₁), ratio of FEV₁ to FVC (FEV₁/FVC) and modified British Medical Research Council (mMRC) in both groups significantly improved (P < 0.05), and the improvement of each index in the observation group was significantly better than that in the control group (P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  The anti-platelet therapy is effective and safe in treatment of patients with AECOPD, which can significantly alleviate the inflammatory symptoms and improve the lung function and respiratory function.