ObjectiveTo analyze the association between the acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) (syndrome of phlegm-heat obstructing lung) and clinical indicators related to COPD. MethodAECOPD in-patients and out-patients were enrolled from the Third People's Hospital of Chengdu from January 2013 to January 2014. The patients were grouped to Tanre Syndrome and non-Tanre Syndrome according to their clinical symptoms, signs and tongue, pulse. All patients underwent the following tests including routine blood test, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, lung function, blood gas analysis, C-reaction protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and other clinically relevant indicators. The association between AECOPD and clinically relevant indicators were analyzed by using SPSS 19.0 software. ResultsA total of 194 AECOPD patients were included, of which 88 patients were syndrome of phlegm-heat obstructing lung and 106 were non syndrome of phlegm-heat obstructing lung according to the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) classifications. The results of single factor analysis showed that age (Z=-4.848, P=0.000) and course of disease (Z=-2.455, P=0.014) were associated with syndrome of phlegm-heat obstructing lung. While further logistic regression analysis showed that age (r=0.090, P=0.000) and the level of CRP (r=-0.008, P=0.000) were associated with syndrome of phlegm-heat obstructing lung. ConclusionSyndrome of phlegm-heat obstructing lung is the major clinical TCM syndrome of AECOPD. Syndrome of phlegm-heat obstructing lung is associated with age and level of CRP.