A third of adults treated for asthma don’t actually have airway disorder: study

TORONTO – A study by Canadian researchers suggests that about a third of Canadian adults being treated for asthma had been misdiagnosed or went into remission.

Asthma is a chronic inflammation of the airways that causes shortness of breath, wheezing and coughing.

Lead researcher Dr. Shawn Aaron of the Ottawa Hospital says some doctors diagnose asthma based on symptoms but don’t confirm the diagnosis with a test called spirometry.

Spirometry is a simple, inexpensive test that measures a patient’s breathing capacity.

Aaron says patients told they have asthma should insist they get spirometry before accepting the diagnosis and doctors should always confirm their diagnosis with the test.

The study of about 700 adults from 10 Canadian cities who were being treated for asthma is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“One of the main messages I want to get across is that people are being misdiagnosed because they’re not being properly investigated to begin with,” Aaron said.

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