Allergology International (Apr 2018)

Definition and diagnosis of asthma–COPD overlap (ACO)

  • Satoru Yanagisawa,
  • Masakazu Ichinose

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 67, no. 2
pp. 172 – 178

Abstract

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It is now widely recognized that asthma and COPD can coexist as asthma–COPD overlap (ACO), but the preliminary attempts at providing universal guidelines for the diagnosis of ACO still need to be improved. We believe that a case can be made for devising guidelines for the diagnosis of this increasingly common disease that are specific to Japan. In this paper, we present our consensus-based description of ACO which we believe is realistic for use in our country. In addition, we cite the scientific evidence for our own “objective” features used to develop the criteria for COPD and asthma diagnosis. We acknowledge that they will need to be validated and updated over time, but hope the results will encourage further research on the characteristics and treatment of this commonly encountered clinical problem. Keywords: Airway responsiveness, Allergic rhinitis, CT, Eosinophil, Exhaled NO