Asthma often misdiagnosed, according to a Canadian study

A third of people with asthma who was diagnosed in Canada may not suffer from this disease, according to a study by Canadian researchers suggest that asthma is "surdiagnostiqué" in developed countries. The work published Tuesday in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association (CMAJ) indicate that many patients suffer from asthma thinking take unnecessary and expensive drugs that may also have adverse side effects. The study particularly by Dr. Shawn Aaron, head of respiratory medicine of the Ottawa Hospital, said that about 496 patients studied by the researchers, about one-third actually do not suffer from asthma. In some cases patients suffered from flu or other respiratory disorders. Dr. Aaron and his staff show that "almost one third of patients with diagnosed the presence of asthma did in fact show no signs of illness after undergoing rigorous testing and ceased to take medication against asthma, CMAJ stressed in an editorial. "This indicates that in countries like Canada, asthma is surdiagnostiqué", researchers believe. Between 1980 and 1995 the incidence of asthma has increased by 75% in Canada and the USA. According to figures from the Institute of Statistics, 8.3% of the population, some 2.3 million people suffering from asthma in 2005. Recent epidemiological data indicate that 300 million people suffer from asthma in the world and the global burden likely to increase to 100 million cases by 2025, says the editorial in the CMAJ, noting that "overestimates Perhaps the magnitude of the problem. " For Canadian researchers, the increase of cases and diagnoses of asthma could be due to greater awareness of the disease, particularly stimulated by the pharmaceutical industry has developed new products against this disease and is advertising. Dr. Aaron and his colleagues believe that Misdiagnosis due in large part by the lack of much use spirometer, a device that can measure the speed and volume of the lungs breathing. It is "unacceptable" not to diagnose asthma "objectively" with such a device, find the authors of the editorial. "We consider that a doctor who tries to treat hypertension without measuring blood pressure (...) does not comply to an adequate standard of care. Treating asthma without having at least one spirometry, it ' is the same thing, "they write.