Comorbidity Impacts on Asthma Outcomes
Summary
Asthma rarely occurs in isolation; an array of chronic conditions often coexists and modifies its clinical trajectory. Cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes, psychiatric conditions including anxiety and depression, and other respiratory or gastrointestinal disorders are disproportionately prevalent among people with asthma. These comorbidities interact with airway inflammation, alter drug responsiveness and amplify healthcare utilisation. For example, obesity worsens airway hyper-responsiveness and blunts the effect of inhaled corticosteroids, while depression undermines adherence to maintenance therapy and elevates the risk of severe exacerbations. The combined burden of multiple comorbidities contributes to poorer quality of life, increased emergency visits and higher mortality rates. Understanding these interconnections informs risk stratification, supports individualised treatment plans and highlights the need for integrated care pathways that address both respiratory and systemic health.
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Comorbidity Impacts on Asthma Outcomes publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in comorbidity impacts on asthma outcomes across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Comorbidity: Presence of one or more additional diseases co-occurring with a primary condition.
Exacerbation: Acute worsening of asthma symptoms requiring extra medical intervention.
Odds ratio: Statistical measure expressing the likelihood of an outcome occurring in one group relative to another; values above one indicate increased odds.
Meta-analysis: Quantitative method that pools results from multiple independent studies to produce a summary estimate of effect size.
References
- Prevalence of Comorbidities in Asthma and Nonasthma Patients. Medicine (2016).
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