Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap

Asthma bronchiale and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are the most prevalent lung diseases characterized by inflammation of the airways. International and Hungarian guidelines provide proper definitions for clinical symptoms, diagnostics and therapy of both diseases. However, in everyday clinical practice, overlap of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has become more frequent. As guidelines are mainly based on large, multicenter, randomized, controlled trials that exclude overlap patients, there is a lack of diagnostic and especially therapeutic strategies for these patients. This review summarizes clinical characteristics of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap, and provides daily practical examples for its management.