Comorbid diseases in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease, and asthma.

BACKGROUND

Asthma, persistent rhinosinusitis, and/or nasal polyposis accompanying non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) intolerance is defined as aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). Although the literature includes considerable data on comorbidities in asthma, data on comorbidities in AERD have not been previously published.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of comorbidities in AERD and compare the findings to those in asthmatic patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The records for 330 AERD patients that presented to our allergy clinic were reviewed. Patients with urticaria/angio-oedema type reactions to NSAIDs were included in the pseudo Samter's group (n=83) and 338 randomly selected NSAID-tolerant asthma patients constituted the control group.

RESULTS

Gender, age at presentation, age at onset of asthma, and follow-up periods were similar in all groups. Hypertension (P=0.035), diabetes mellitus (P=0.323), gastro-oesophageal reflux (P<0.001), psychological disorders (P=0.099), obesity (P=0.003), and hyperlipidaemia (P=0.002) were significantly more prevalent in the asthma group. Interestingly, coronary artery disease (CAD) and congestive heart failure (CHF) were more common in the AERD group (P=0.178); CAD/CHF was associated with AERD (OR: 4.5; 95% CI: 1.206-16.93).

CONCLUSION

AERD and asthma are associated with several comorbidities. Even though systemic steroid dependency and severe asthma were significantly more common in the AERD group, comorbidities occurred more frequently in the asthma group. Additional longitudinal studies are needed to more clearly discern if the risk of CAD/CHF is increased in AERD.