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Background and objectives: Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases can frequently coexist. Understanding their link may improve disease management. We aimed at assessing the associations of chronic bronchitis (CB), asthma and rhinitis with cardiovascular diseases and risk factors in the general population. Methods: We used data collected in the Gene Environment Interactions in Respiratory Diseases study, an Italian multicentre, multicase-control study. Among 2463 participants (age 21–86, female 50%) who underwent standardized interviews, skin prick and lung function tests, we identified 254 cases of CB without airflow obstruction, 418 cases of asthma without CB, 959 cases of rhinitis alone, and 832 controls. The associations of respiratory diseases with reported cardiovascular risk factors (lifestyles, hypertension, dyslipidaemia), heart disorders (myocardial infarction, coronary thrombosis, angina, aorta or heart surgery) and intermittent claudication were estimated through relative risk ratios (RRR) by multinomial logistic regression models. Results: Compared to controls, CB cases were more likely to be heavy smokers, alcohol consumers, physically inactive, and to suffer from hypertension or dyslipidaemia; rhinitis cases were less obese but more likely to have hypertension. Asthma was significantly associated with current smoking. After adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors, heart disorders were associated with CB (RRR[95%CI]: 1.58[1.12–2.22]) and rhinitis (1.35[0.98–1.85]) and intermittent claudication was associated with CB (3.43[2.52–4.67]), asthma (1.51[1.04–2.21]) and rhinitis (2.03[1.34–3.07]). Conclusions: CB, asthma and rhinitis were associated with cardiovascular risk factors and diseases. In particular, CB shared with cardiovascular diseases almost all risk factors and was strongly associated with a higher risk of heart disorders and intermittent claudication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The joint distribution of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not been well described. This study aims at determining the prevalence of self-reported physician diagnoses of asthma, COPD and of the asthma-COPD overlap syndrome and to assess whether these conditions share a common set of risk factors. Methods: A screening questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, diagnoses and risk factors was administered by mail or phone to random samples of the general Italian population aged 20–44 (n = 5163) 45–64 (n = 2167) and 65–84 (n = 1030) in the frame of the multicentre Gene Environment Interactions in Respiratory Diseases (GEIRD) study. Results: A physician diagnosis of asthma or COPD (emphysema/chronic bronchitis/COPD) was reported by 13% and 21% of subjects aged <65 and 65–84 years respectively. Aging was associated with a marked decrease in the prevalence of diagnosed asthma (from 8.2% to 1.6%) and with a marked increase in the prevalence of diagnosed COPD (from 3.3% to 13.3%). The prevalence of the overlap of asthma and COPD was 1.6% (1.3%–2.0%), 2.1% (1.5%–2.8%) and 4.5% (3.2%–5.9%) in the 20–44, 45–64 and 65–84 age groups. Subjects with both asthma and COPD diagnoses were more likely to have respiratory symptoms, physical impairment, and to report hospital admissions compared to asthma or COPD alone (p<0.01). Age, sex, education and smoking showed different and sometimes opposite associations with the three conditions. Conclusion: Asthma and COPD are common in the general population, and they coexist in a substantial proportion of subjects. The asthma-COPD overlap syndrome represents an important clinical phenotype that deserves more medical attention and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]