Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome: prevalence and clinical characteristics

Aim: We aimed to investigate ACOS prevalence in the patients previously diagnosed as either COPD or asthma, and to describe clinical characteristics of ACOS. Methods: A retrospective cohort of well-characterized patients (pts) with either COPD or asthma was analyzed. A detailed questionnaire was prepared and applied to the participants face to face. A stepwise approach to diagnosis ACOS was performed according to the international guidelines (Joint project of GOLD and GINA 2014). Pts who have three or more usual features of both asthma and COPD were enrolled for pre- and post-bronchodilator (BD) spirometry. Pts were considered to have ACOS if their post-BD FEV1/FVC was 12% and 200 ml) in COPD group. Results: Of 226 pts (116 pts with COPD, 110 pts with asthma) were included in the study. Out of 226, 36 (15.9%) pts were described as ACOS. ACOS prevalence was determined 12.7% (n=14) in asthmatics, and 18.9% (n=22) in COPD patients. Pts with ACOS were younger than COPD pts, while they were older than asthmatics (Table 1). Emergency service admissions in a year were found higher in ACOS pts than the pts with asthma and COPD. CONCLUSINOS: Prevalence of ACOS in patients with chronic airway disease is not negligible, and a stepwise approach is helpful to recognise this group of patients.