Table 1.

Comorbid and lifestyle factors present in real world patients with asthma who are frequently excluded from classical randomized controlled trial populations

Comorbid disease/lifestyle factor	Prevalence/degree of problem among patients with asthma
Rhinitis and rhinosinusitis	24%–94% (as measured in a range of European and American studies)
	50%–100% (lifetime prevalence)
Anxiety and depression	25%–50% (prevalence in severe and difficult-to-control asthma)
Obesity	Prevalence has increased concurrently with that of asthma over the past decades
GERD	Fivefold higher risk of GERD symptoms in individuals with asthma
	Twofold higher risk of asthma in those with GERD
Smoking	15%–35% (current smokers, wide international variations)
	22%–43% (ex-smokers)
Device misuse	~70%
Real world inhaled corticosteroid adherence	30%–40%

GERD gastroesophageal reflux disease

(Data from Clatworthy et al. [11], Thomas and Price [12], Giraud and Roche [13], Molimard et al. [14], and Haughney et al. [15])