ArticlePrimary care respiratory journal : journal of the General Practice Airways Group2012
Accuracy of asthma and COPD diagnosis in Australian general practice: a mixed methods study.
Article in Primary care respiratory journal : journal of the General Practice Airways Group, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03137303 (Reducing Diagnostic Error to Improve Patient Safety in COPD and Asthma), which is not on this map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Reducing Diagnostic Error to Improve Patient Safety in COPD and Asthma (REDEFINE Study)
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Undiagnosed and 'overdiagnosed' COPD using postbronchodilator spirometry in primary healthcare settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open respiratory research · 2023Pooled it
- Educational interventions for health professionals managing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Prediction models for the development of COPD: a systematic review.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2018Pooled it
- The effect of a post-bronchodilator FEVRespiratory research · 2025Article
- A service evaluation following the implementation of computer guided consultation software to support primary care reviews for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2025Article
- Covert airflow obstruction dominates the overt ones in interstitial lung disease: An appraisal.The Indian journal of medical research · 2024Article
- COPD - do the right thing.BMC family practice · 2021Review
- Sagittal-lung CT measurements in the evaluation of asthma-COPD overlap syndrome: a distinctive phenotype from COPD alone.La Radiologia medica · 2017Article
- Are formalised implementation activities associated with aspects of quality of care in general practice? A cross-sectional study.BJGP open · 2017Article
- Risk Factors for Pneumonia and the Effect of the Pneumococcal Vaccine in Patients With Chronic Airflow Obstruction.Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (Miami, Fla.) · 2016Article
- Mortality Outcomes of Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.American journal of nephrology · 2016Article
- COPD assessment test and severity of airflow limitation in patients with asthma, COPD, and asthma-COPD overlap syndrome.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2016Article
- Implementing clinical guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: barriers and solutions.Journal of thoracic disease · 2014Review
- Is previous respiratory disease a risk factor for lung cancer?American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2014Article
- Chronic disease co-morbidity of asthma and unscheduled asthma care among adults: results of the national telephone health interview survey German Health Update (GEDA) 2009 and 2010.Primary care respiratory journal : journal of the General Practice Airways Group · 2014Article
- Spirometry: an essential tool for screening, case-finding, and diagnosis of COPD.Primary care respiratory journal : journal of the General Practice Airways Group · 2012Article
- Undiagnosed and Misdiagnosed Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Data from the BOLD Australia Study.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseArticle
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSpirometry is the 'gold standard' for diagnosing asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but is rarely used in general practice.
aimsTo compare doctor diagnoses with patient reports/spirometry and to determine doctors' perceptions of spirometry.
methodsPatients prescribed inhaled medication were recruited from 31 practices. Doctor diagnoses were extracted from practice records. Patients completed a questionnaire and spirometry before and after bronchodilator. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of doctors.
resultsDoctor diagnoses were available for 278 patients: asthma 192 (69%), COPD 38 (14%), asthma/COPD 40 (14%), and eight patients (3%) with other conditions. The diagnosis of asthma was correctly reported by 93% of patients, but only by 61% of those with COPD alone. Among those with both diagnoses, 83% reported asthma and 48% reported COPD. Of those with a diagnosis of COPD, 65% had fixed airflow limitation. Conversely, only 14% of those had been diagnosed with COPD alone. There was no significant difference in reversibility in forced expiratory volume in 1 second between diagnoses. While recognising the value of spirometry in differentiating between asthma and COPD, most general practices only used spirometry in diagnostically difficult cases.
conclusionsDoctor-diagnosed asthma is accurately reported by patients. However, COPD remains substantially under-diagnosed. Spirometry needs to be more widely used to improve the accuracy of respiratory diagnoses in general practice.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.