In medicine, comorbidities are diseases that occur at the same time in one patient. In patients with asthma, certain comorbidities occur more often than would be expected due to random chance. Furthermore, when the patients asthma is particularly difficult to control, diagnosis and treatment of these comorbidities reduces the severity of the asthma. Thus, it is important to know what these comorbidities are and to treat them when present. The comorbidities include:
Smoking, lack of exercise, being overweight, high cholesterol (with cardiovascular disease), lack of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), rhinitis, sinusitis, polyps, obstructive sleep apnea, anxiety and depression.
Why not control asthma with less asthma meds? Whenever I evaluate a patient's asthma, I consider these comorbidities and try to at least coordinate treatment.
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