COPD patients were grouped according to their methylation status of MALAT1 and miR-146a promoters, and we found that forced vital capacity, volume that has been exhaled at the end of the first second of forced expiration, and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide were the highest in the MALAT1 HYPO + miR-146a HYPER group and lowest in the MALAT1 HYPER + miR-146a HYPO group, and COPD patients with hypermethylated MALAT1 showed lower expression of MALAT1 than that in the COPD patients with hypomethylated MALAT1. Here, MALAT1 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.