Airflow obstruction: is it asthma or is it COPD?
An interesting study in the International Journal Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease traces the difficulties to differentiate asthma from COPD.
Despite the availability of guideline recommendations, diagnostic confusion between COPD and asthma appears common, and often it is very difficult in a patient with airway obstruction to decide whether the obstruction is caused by asthma or COPD.
The articles analyzes the different features that are useful to differentiate asthma from COPD in the presence of fixed airflow obstruction:
- Patterns of airway inflammation
- Pulmonary function
- Airway hyperresponsiveness and bronchial reversibility
- Fractional exhaled nitric oxide
- High-resolution computed tomography findings
- Comorbidities
The article details are the following:
- Title: "Airflow obstruction: is it asthma or is it COPD?"
- Authors: Paola Rogliani, Josuel Ora, Ermanno Puxeddu, and Mario Cazzola
- Published in: Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2016; 11: 3007–3013.
The study can be downloaded for free at the following link: click here
