The following is a summary of “Mortality of asthma, COPD, and asthma-COPD overlap during an 18-year follow up,” published in the  FEBRUARY 2023 issue of Pulmonology by Mattila, et al.

To predict mortality in a cohort of Finnish people with an 18-year follow-up, researchers, for a study, looked at asthma, COPD, and asthma-COPD overlap (ACO).

In 2000–2001, a national health examination survey of Finns aged ≥30 years was conducted. The sample size for the research cohort was 5,922 individuals, or 73.8% of the total. All pertinent information was collected, including a thorough clinical examination and spirometry. Through a record linkage, these individuals were regularly monitored for total, cardiovascular, cancer, and respiratory mortality from the start of the study to the end of 2018. The survey results included spirometry and registration data, and asthma, COPD, and ACO were defined. There were three different groups of obstruction-prone individuals (one definition excluding the others).

In Cox’s model, which was controlled for sex, age, smoking, education level, BMI, leisure-time physical activity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and COPD were substantially linked to greater overall mortality. Asthma, COPD, and ACO each had hazard ratios (HR) (95% CI) of 1.29 (1.05-1.58), 1.50 (1.20-1.88), and 1.26 (0.97-1.65), respectively. Additionally, COPD (HR 1.53, 95% CI 1.08-2.16) and asthma (HR 1.47, 95% CI 1.09-1.97) were linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular death. Finally, there was a substantial connection between ACO and mortality risk among individuals with hs-CRP 1-2.99 mg/l, even though ACO did not predict death throughout the entire group.

Higher overall mortality and early death from cardiovascular illnesses were predicted by asthma or COPD.

Reference: resmedjournal.com/article/S0954-6111(22)00377-8/fulltext