New study reveals gaps in care for people with severe asthma and multiple health conditions

A European survey shows that access to specialist care and support for people managing multiple health conditions varies widely across Europe.

People living with severe asthma often have to manage other ongoing health conditions at the same time. These co-existing conditions, known as multimorbidities, can include sinus disease, acid reflux, sleep apnoea, anxiety or heart problems. Having multiple conditions can make severe asthma harder to manage and make symptoms feel worse.

What did the study look at?

A new study published in ERJ Open Research surveyed 496 lung health doctors across 25 European countries. The research team, which included severe asthma patients, wanted to understand how well healthcare systems support people with severe asthma who are living with multiple conditions.

Researchers asked doctors how regularly they check for and treat additional health conditions in people with severe asthma. They also surveyed doctors about their access to multidisciplinary specialist teams and what further training they need to care for patients with multiple health issues.

The research was conducted by the European Respiratory Society’s SHARP (Severe Heterogeneous Asthma Research Collaboration, Patient-Centred) Clinical Research Collaboration. The idea for studying multimorbidity emerged from discussions between patients and healthcare professionals, with several members of the European Lung Foundation’s Asthma Patient Advisory Group serving as co-authors to ensure the patient voice shaped the study from the start.

What do the results show?

The survey compared the experiences and resources available to severe asthma specialists compared with general lung health doctors. Key findings include:

• Severe asthma specialists see more patients and have greater experience managing complex cases
• Specialists were more likely to have better multidisciplinary teams which may include allied health professionals, such as specialist nurses and physiotherapists, and easy referral pathways to other specialists · Specialists regularly offered more routine assessment of other conditions and checked for co-existing health problems.

Why is this important?

The study highlights important inequalities in care across Europe. People with severe asthma and multiple health conditions may receive different levels of support depending on where they live and whether they have access to a severe asthma specialist.

The findings suggest that improving access to multidisciplinary care teams and creating better pathways for managing multiple conditions could help improve outcomes for people living with severe asthma across Europe.

Read the original research paper:

Title: Managing multimorbidity in severe asthma: comparison of resources and perspectives between severe asthma specialists and general respiratory physicians across Europe

https://publications.ersnet.org/content/erjor/early/2026/05/14/2312054100157-2026