Diagnosing Asthma: Asthma
Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School
Diagnosing asthma
If you have found yourself struggling for breath or wheezing, make an appointment to see your physician or ask for a referral to an appropriate specialist. Asthma is diagnosed on the basis of symptoms, a physical examination, and the results of diagnostic tests. There is no blood test for asthma, however, and the disorder is sometimes hard to distinguish from other lung diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis (see "COPD") or congestive heart failure. Your age and medical history provide important clues to the correct diagnosis.
Asthma is usually diagnosed in childhood: Three out of four people experience symptoms for the first time by age 5. Adults may be first diagnosed with asthma in their 20s and 30s, yet they can usually identify symptoms of the disorder that occurred earlier but went unnoticed: frequent bronchitis as a child, coughing and wheezing that lingered for weeks after a cold, excessive shortness of breath when playing sports. In such cases, the asthma actually began in early childhood but was not diagnosed until adulthood. Relatively few people are diagnosed with a new onset of asthma in their 60s and 70s. Doctors search long and hard for another explanation for coughing and wheezing in elderly people. In those cases, some other illness mimicking asthma is usually (although not always) the correct diagnosis (see "Asthma or something else?").
Generalist or specialist?Most often a diagnosis of asthma can be made correctly by your primary care physician. This is certainly true if asthma runs in your family and if the diagnosis is straightforward. But if there is uncertainty about a diagnosis, or if you have other medical problems, it may be helpful to consult an asthma specialist. He or she will be familiar with the many diseases that can mimic asthma and will have access to methods of testing often not available to your primary physician. Most asthma specialists are either allergists or pulmonologists. Allergists have an in-depth understanding of allergies and immune system function. Pulmonologists train in diseases of the chest, with a strong background in assessment of lung function. Although these two types of specialists have slightly different perspectives and training, both are experts in asthma. |
| Last updated: | September 27, 2007 |
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Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.
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