IL1B and congestive heart failure: Thus, the aims of our study were 1) to assess the occurrence of CHF by echocardiography in well-characterized, spirometrically documented smokers with COPD; 2) to assess the occurrence of COPD by spirometry in well-characterized smokers with CHF; and 3) to assess the degree of systemic inflammation by measuring circulating high-sensitive C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP), PTX3, IL-1 β, and soluble type II receptor (decoy receptor) of IL-1 (sIL-1RII) in both cohorts.