The overlap phenotype: the (missing) link between asthma and COPD

Characterisation of the overlap COPD–asthma phenotype. Focus on physical activity and health status

“…2,3 There is controversy about the designation of patients that share clinical characteristics of COPD and asthma. 1,2,18 The definition used in our study has been adopted from the COPDGene cohort 6 and is useful for epidemiologic research. It corresponds to adult subjects who were diagnosed with asthma before the age of 40 and who currently present a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC < 0.7.…”

The asthma–chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap syndrome (ACOS)

“…A recent Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD)-Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) document described the ACOS as persistent airflow limitation with several features usually associated with asthma and several features usually associated with COPD [8 & ]. Clinically, the ACOS usually corresponds to COPD patients with increased reversibility and/or asthmatic patients with a history of smoking that developed non-fully reversible airway obstruction at an older age [9,10]. It has been demonstrated that asthma, active smoking and atopy interact in the development of fixed airflow obstruction.…”

Asthma, COPD and overlap syndrome: a longitudinal study in young European adults

“…Previous reports showing that subjects with ACOS have a pattern of risk factors that is intermediate between asthma and COPD, but more exacerbations and greater severity than subjects with either disease alone [7,24], raised the hypothesis that ACOS could be a specific disease entity [12,13,25].…”