While asthma does not automatically lead to COPD,
- a person whose lungs have been damaged by frequent flares of poorly controlled asthma is at increased risk of developing COPD
- or if they are living
- or working in environments where they are exposed to airborne pollutants.
Asthma and COPD are both chronic inflammatory lung diseases.
In both conditions, inflammation is associated with structural alterations at large and small airway levels.
This can result in a transient phenotypic overlap or a combined syndrome with characteristics of both diseases.