Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

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Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have striking differences but the similarities are also striking. Some scientists consider them as different expression of same disease. Some COPD patients show reversibility; on the other hand, asthma, a basically reversible disease, may lose its reversible nature by the process of airway remodeling and thereby blurring their differences. Although both are inflammatory diseases, they differ in the nature of inflammation and spectrum of inflammatory mediators. Clinically, most physicians can differentiate between two diseases, but the overlap also is widely recognized. The question remains whether any physiological test, among plethora available, can definitely differentiate asthma from COPD. Apart from overlap between asthma and COPD, it is now a well-established fact that asthma is a risk factor for the development of COPD. Only future can say, “whether Dutch or British hypothesis is right.”