Clinical Approach to Asthma COPD Overlap Syndrome

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are major public health issues which are associated with high and already increasing prevalence and may cause morbidity, mortality, and socioeconomical costs (1-4). Although asthma and COPD are different entities, the differential diagnosis can be sometimes challenging and it can be impossible in some elderly patients (5). Furthermore, more than 40% of the patients with COPD have reported a history of asthma (6) and asthma is accepted as a risk factor for the development of COPD (7). It is well-known that, in patients with both COPD and asthma, the disease progresses more rapidly (8), the patients have a worse quality of life-related to the health status, and they have more frequent respiratory system exacerbations (9). In this patient population, there is an increased rate of comorbidities and frequent admissions to health centers, compared to the patients with asthma alone or COPD alone (10-11).