This Lung Disorder Tends To Be Misdiagnosed In Many Adults

(Reuters Health) ― As many as one in three adults diagnosed with asthma may not actually have the chronic lung disorder, a Canadian study suggests. Researchers did lung function tests on 613 adults who had been diagnosed with asthma within the past five years. If participants took asthma medicines, researchers gradually weaned them off the drugs over four clinic visits to see how well their lungs worked without treatment. The evaluations ruled out asthma in 203 of the participants, or 33 percent. After one year of follow-up, 181 of these people still did too well on lung tests to be diagnosed with asthma, researchers report in JAMA. “We were able to get these patients completely off asthma medications, and they did well in follow up over the next year despite remaining off medications,” said lead study author Dr. Shawn Aaron of the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. “Some of these patients were clearly misdiagnosed to begin with, and they had other conditions other than asthma, and some did have asthma but it was in remission,” Aaron added by email. Asthma can be difficult to diagnose because not all patients have the same triggers or symptoms, which can include difficulty breathing, chest pain, cough and wheezing. Some chronic asthma patients experience periods of remission and relapse. For the current study, researchers had all of the patients monitor symptoms and do breathing tests at home to see how fast air comes ou...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news