Should you reassess your patient’s asthma diagnosis?
Asthma may not be a permanent diagnosis in adults. A study finds that up to one-third of adults with physician-diagnosed asthma no longer had it after 5 years.
PRACTICE CHANGER
Consider tapering medications and retesting spirometry in adults with well-controlled asthma, as many may no longer have the disease.1
STRENGTH OF RECOMMENDATION
A: Based on a high-quality prospective cohort study and consistent findings in other studies.
Aaron SD, Vandemheen KL, FitzGerald JM, et al. Reevaluation of diagnosis in adults with physician-diagnosed asthma. JAMA. 2017;317:269-279.
CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTATION
“Undiagnosis” is unusual
Using objective testing may provide some logistical or financial challenges for patients. Furthermore, “undiagnosing” a chronic disease like asthma is not a physician’s typical work, and it may take some time and effort to educate and monitor patients through the process.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The PURLs Surveillance System was supported in part by Grant Number UL1RR024999 from the National Center For Research Resources, a Clinical Translational Science Award to the University of Chicago. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center For Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.
