Persistent nasal congestion can be a symptom of chronic asthma, warn Swedish doctors. For the first time, clinicians at the University of Gothenburg assessed the prevalence of severe asthma to various signs of the disease among 30 thousand people.
As a result, researchers have documented that about 2% of Sweden’s population has the symptoms of chronic asthma. Forms of chronic asthma are much more common than it was previously thought, since the presence of nasal congestion, as it turned out, often leads to respiratory diseases.
Chronic rhinosinusitis, or persistent nasal congestion or running nose over a long period of time may be associated with the asthmatic condition, doctors say. According to them, the patients themselves and physicians should pay attention to such complaints. In addition, one should critically analyze even minor symptoms in the lower respiratory tracts, including wheezing, shortness of breath during physical exertion and nocturnal awakening due to breathing problems. In case of any of such indications, immunologists are advised to perform the screening for the identification of asthma. Some functions of the immune system that are activated in connection with chronic breathing problems, can be due to asthma.
