LATE-BREAKING ABSTRACT: Prevalence of comorbidities in patients with asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) in primary care

Abstract

Introduction: Comorbidities are known to be frequent in COPD patients. However, less is known about the prevalence of comorbidities in patients with the asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS). Aims: To estimate the prevalence of comorbidities in patients with ACOS in comparison with patients with COPD. Methods: Data were extracted from the MAJOrca Real-life Investigation in COPD and Asthma (MAJORICA) database of primary care in Spain. Patients with a physician-confirmed diagnosis of both asthma and COPD were identified as ACOS cases and compared with a population that had a COPD diagnosis only. Baseline characteristics (age, gender, smoking status) were compared using Chi-square and student's t -tests, where appropriate. Prevalence of comorbidities was compared using multivariate logistic regression. Results: We identified 5,093 ACOS patients and compared them with 22,778 COPD patients. Patients with COPD were more frequently men (69.2%) than ACOS patients (46.6%), were older (COPD: 65.8 years; ACOS: 64.0 years) and differed by non-smoking status (COPD: 22.1%; ACOS: 45.8%) (all, p<0.001). In adjusted analyses, allergic rhinitis (OR: 1.81, 95%CI: 1.63-2.00), anxiety (OR: 1.18, 95%CI: 1.10-1.27), GERD (OR: 1.18, 95%CI: 1.04-1.33) and osteoporosis (OR: 1.14, 95%CI: 1.04-1.26) were more frequent in ACOS than COPD. In contrast, chronic kidney disease (OR: 0.79, 95%CI: 0.66-0.95) and ischaemic heart disease (OR: 0.88, 95%CI: 0.79-0.98) were less frequent. Conclusions: In our population of ACOS patients, allergic rhinitis, anxiety, GERD and osteoporosis are more prevalent than in COPD patients, while ischaemic heart disease and chronic kidney disease are less frequent.