ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2016
Overdiagnosis of asthma in children in primary care: a retrospective analysis.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 160 citations in OpenAlex.
- A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of childhood wheezing phenotypes identifieseLife · 2023Pooled it
- Digital interventions to improve adherence to maintenance medication in asthma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Features of successful interventions to improve adherence to inhaled corticosteroids in children with asthma: A narrative systematic review.Pediatric pulmonology · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review of clinical prediction models to support the diagnosis of asthma in primary care.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Post-war (1946-2017) population health change in the United Kingdom: A systematic review.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Pandemic-Associated Shifts and Spatial Inequality in Public Attention to Pulmonary Function Testing in China: A 14-Year Baidu Index Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Pediatric Asthma in a Universally Insured Military Population.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Asthma in African children and adolescents: Burden, barriers, and management strategies.African journal of thoracic and critical care medicine · 2026Review
- Etiologies of chronic cough in children: a two-year experience from a tertiary pediatric pulmonology center.Turkish journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- Prognostic utility of pre-biologic treatment correlates of childhood severe asthma exacerbation risk: Real world evidence.Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology · 2025Article
- Breath profiles in paediatric allergic asthma by proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry.BMJ open respiratory research · 2025Article
- Article
- Performance of two portable exhaled nitric oxide fraction devices compared to a "gold standard" chemiluminescence device.ERJ open research · 2025Article
- Bronchodilator Response Assessed by Surface Respiratory Muscle EMG in Children.Journal of asthma and allergy · 2025Article
- Understanding and Managing Viral-Induced Wheezing in Children: The Role of Parental Knowledge.Journal of asthma and allergy · 2025Article
- Improving asthma care in children: revealing needs and bottlenecks through in-depth interviews.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2024Article
- Use and acceptability of an asthma diagnosis clinical decision support system for primary care clinicians: an observational mixed methods study.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2024Observational
- Evaluating Severe Therapy-Resistant Asthma in Children: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Strategies.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Review
- The quality of paediatric asthma guidelines: evidence underpinning diagnostic test recommendations from a meta-epidemiological study.Family practice · 2024Article
- Quality-of-Life Assessment in Children with Mild to Moderate Bronchial Asthma.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAsthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood. According to guidelines, a diagnosis of asthma should be confirmed using lung function testing in children aged >6 years. Previous studies indicate that asthma in children is probably overdiagnosed. However, the extent has not previously been assessed.
aimTo assess the extent and characteristics of confirmed and unconfirmed diagnoses of asthma in children who were diagnosed by their GP as having asthma or who were treated as having asthma. DESIGN AND
settingRetrospective analysis in four academic primary healthcare centres in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
methodRoutine care registration data of children aged 6-18 years who received a diagnosis of asthma or were treated as having asthma were analysed.
resultsIn only 16.1% (n = 105) of the children diagnosed with asthma was the diagnosis confirmed with spirometry, whereas in 23.2% (n = 151) the signs and symptoms did give rise to suspected asthma but the children should have undergone further lung function tests. In more one-half (53.5%, n = 349) of the children the signs and symptoms made asthma unlikely and thus they were most likely overdiagnosed. The remaining 7.2% (n = 47) were probably correctly classified as not having asthma. The main reasons for classifying asthma without children undergoing further lung function tests were dyspnoea (31.9%, n = 174), cough (26.0%, n = 142), and wheezing (10.4%, n = 57).
conclusionOverdiagnosis of childhood asthma is common in primary care, leading to unnecessary treatment, disease burden, and impact on quality of life. However, only in a small percentage of children is a diagnosis of asthma confirmed by lung function tests.
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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.