Płusa Tadeusz
Klinika Chorób Wewnętrznych, Pneumonologii i Alergologii, Centralny Szpital Kliniczny MON, Wojskowy Instytut Medyczny w Warszawie, Warszawa.
Pneumonol Alergol Pol. 2011;79(5):351-6.
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as separate diseases are considered for a long time. Now this concept needs to be re-evaluated because in many clinical situations both diseases may coexist, or one condition may evolve into the other. Especially in older patients with obstructive disease an overlapping diagnosis of asthma and COPD may be observed. Epidemiological data show that overlap syndrome is recognized by the coexistence of incompletely reversible airway obstruction and features of airway remodeling. The analysis of clinical symptoms indicates that the risk factors are the same in asthma and COPD, and a role of inflammatory process in the small airways may be a key point to understand the pathology of overlap syndrome. Studying these events may bring new insights into the treatment of obstructive diseases of the respiratory tract.
长期以来，哮喘和慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）一直被视为两种独立的疾病。现在这一概念需要重新评估，因为在许多临床情况下，这两种疾病可能同时存在，或者一种情况可能演变为另一种情况。特别是在患有阻塞性疾病的老年患者中，可能会观察到哮喘和COPD的重叠诊断。流行病学数据表明，重叠综合征是由不完全可逆性气道阻塞和气道重塑特征的共存所识别的。临床症状分析表明，哮喘和COPD的危险因素相同，小气道炎症过程的作用可能是理解重叠综合征病理的关键点。研究这些情况可能会为呼吸道阻塞性疾病的治疗带来新的见解。
