Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have synergistic detrimental effects. Their comorbid association leads to compromised gas exchange (hypoxia and hypercapnia) and higher rates of morbidity and death. As our understanding of the pathophysiologic processes of sleep evolves, the relationship between OSA and obstructive lung diseases such as COPD ("overl...

I n the spectrum of chronic airway disorders, nowhere is the relationship between disease and clinical expression better illustrated than with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is becoming increasingly apparent that some patients who present with chronic airway disease share characteristics of both asthma and COPD, an entity that has been defined as the asthma–COPD ove...

Adult-onset asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are major public health burdens. This review presents a comprehensive synopsis of their epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical presentations; describes how they can be distinguished; and considers both established and proposed new approaches to their management. Both adult-onset asthma and COPD are complex diseases arising...

INTRODUCTION The association between vitamin D and clinical parameters in obstructive lung diseases (OLDs), including COPD and bronchial asthma, was previously investigated. As asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) is a new clinical entity, the prevalence of vitamin D levels in ACOS is unknown. AIM Our aim was to assess the levels of circulating vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]) in diff...

Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) is a commonly encountered chronic airway disease. However, ACOS is still a consensus-based clinical phenotype and the underlying inflammatory mechanisms are inadequately characterized. To clarify the inflammatory mediatypical for ACOS, five biomarkers, namely interleukin (IL)-13, myeloperoxidase (MPO), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), chitin...

Background In respiratory disorders, patient- and physician-perceived satisfaction with the maintenance inhaler device is an important factor driving treatment compliance and outcomes. We examine inhaler preferences in asthma and COPD from patient and physician perspectives, particularly focusing on the relative importance of individual device attributes and patient characteristics guiding inha...

BACKGROUND Mitochondria contain their own DNA (MtDNA) that is very sensitive to oxidative stress and as a consequence could be damaged in quantity. Oxidative stress is largely recognized to play a key role in the pathogenesis of asthma and COPD and might have a role in the new intermediate phenotype ACOS (asthma-COPD overlap syndrome). The aim of this study was to investigate MtDNA alterations,...

BACKGROUND This study was conducted in order to investigate the differences in the respiratory physiology of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS), and asthma with airflow limitation (asthma FL(+)). METHODS The medical records for a series of all stable patients with persistent airflow limitation due to COPD, ACOS, or asthma were retro...