Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Do you have asthma? Depends on who you ask Another call from Australia for universal diagnostic techniques. The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Guidelines from the American Thoracic Society require laboratories to measure a patient's lung capacity before a standard dose (two puffs) of a bronchodilator - such as Ventolin - and again 15 minutes later. Australian guidelines do not specify a dose or time limit. As a result, the study found the type of bronchodilator used, the amount administered, and the time before lung function tests were repeated all varied significantly among the 37 Australian laboratories surveyed. As a result, asthma is being underdiagnosed in Australia, researchers believe. 12:06:27 PM