Asthma linked to risk of other lung diseases later

Adults with asthma may have an increased risk of acquiring a group of chronic lung diseases that have historically been associated with smokers, according to the results of a 20-year study by University of Arizona researchers.

For decades, scientists have considered asthma and the group of lung diseases known collectively as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) to be different conditions, with distinct stages of development, said Graciela Silva, principal investigator of the study and a doctoral student in epidemiology at the University of Arizona. The study found, however, that people with prolonged, chronic asthma were more likely than nonasthmatics to develop one of the chronic lung diseases later in life.

The study explored whether a diagnosis of asthma can predict whether someone will eventually develop emphysema, bronchitis or COPD, which can be a combination of these.

The epidemiologic study followed 3,099 Caucasian patients for 20 years. At the study’s start, 192 had asthma with symptoms, 156 had been diagnosed with asthma but were symptom-free and the rest did not have asthma. Researchers found that patients with asthma were 12.5 times more likely to develop COPD than nonasthmatics; they were also 17 times more likely to develop emphysema.

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-- Daffodil J. Altan