Comorbidities, a meta-analysis (published 2023)

A Meta-analysis of observational studies totaling more than 5 millions subject reported strong or very strong associations of the following comorbidities in people with asthma, compared to people without asthma:
– Allergic rhinitis (OR 4.24, 95% CI 3.82–4.71)
– allergic conjunctivitis (OR 2.63, 95% CI 2.22–3.11)
– bronchiectasis (OR 4.89, 95% CI 4.48–5.34)
– hypertensive cardiomyopathy (OR 4.24, 95% CI 2.06–8.90)
– nasal congestion (OR 3.30, 95% CI 2.96–3.67)
– COPD (OR 6.23, 95% CI 4.43–8.77)
– chronic respiratory diseases (OR 12.85, 95% CI 10.14–16.29)

The associations were stronger for severe asthma patients, and also included comorbidities like:
– panic attacks (OR 3.16)
– phobia (OR 3.56)
– bipolar disorders (OR 6.16)
– hypertension (OR 3.35)

Note: Odds Ratios (OR) represent the relative risk of having the comorbidity, i.e OR=4.24 means that people with asthma are 4.24 times more likely to have allergic rhinitis than people without asthma.