Comorbidities: Assessment and Treatment

COPD is an umbrella term that is associated with several systemic manifestation, lung involvement, and comorbidities [1, 2]. Currently, the description of comorbidity is complicated and has three different domains: “(1) the coexistence of one or more diseases with no other causation, (2) coexistence of diseases that share common risk factors and pathogenic pathways, (3) coexistence of diseases that are complicated by the interaction with the lung and systemic manifestation of COPD” [3]. In a very recent study, BODE Investigator Group suggested that COPD is interlinked with several comorbidities larger than non-COPD controls indicating common pathobiological process [4]. The importance of comorbidities is their impact on clinical outcomes of a patient life. COPD is a life-threatening and disabling disease and comorbidities cause additional impact revealing impairment in quality of life and increasing mortality [3].