Predicting the Diagnosis of Asthma

Brief summary

Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.

Despite the development of effective medications for treatment, asthma remains a significant contributor of morbidity, mortality, and financial hardship to patients with the disease. An estimated 300 million people worldwide have asthma, making it one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. Asthma accounts for 250,000 deaths per year worldwide, and 1.7 million emergency room visits per year in the United States. Cost of asthma in the United States was an estimated $12.7 billion dollars per year in 1998, and the prevalence is increasing. In 2002, there were 13.9 million outpatient asthma visits to private physician offices and hospital outpatient departments, and 484,000 asthma hospitalizations. Children 5-17 years of age missed 14.7 million school days, and adults missed 11.8 million work days due to asthma in 2002. There is no single diagnostic test or symptom that defines asthma. Asthma is a syndrome consisting of a constellation of symptoms that include wheeze, cough, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. The diagnosis of asthma takes into account history, physical examination findings, and objective measures of pulmonary function and markers of inflammation. In many cases the diagnosis is not in question, allowing for early recognition and appropriate treatment. In other cases, confounding factors makes the diagnosis both challenging and time consuming for the physician and the patient. According to the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Expert Panel Report 2, asthma is defined as: "a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways in which many cells and cellular elements play a role, in particular, mast cells, eosinophils, T lymphocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, and epithelial cells. In susceptible individuals, this inflammation causes recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing, particularly at night or in the early morning. These episodes are usually associated with widespread but variable airflow obstruction that is often reversible either spontaneously or with treatment. The inflammation also causes an associated increase in the existing bronchial hyperresponsiveness to a variety of stimuli." Airway obstruction and reversibility is measured by pulmonary function testing before and after inhalation of a short acting beta agonist. Airway hyperresponsiveness is measured by methacholine challenge. Estimates of asthma prevalence are generated by the use of written questionnaires in epidemiologic studies. , One of the difficulties with reliance on questionnaires is that patients often misinterpret the questions or fail to answer the question altogether. In this study, a physician will review the questionnaire with the patient in order to clarify each question. The goal in this study is to evaluate a simplified set of questions that can be easily implemented into clinical practice that will predict the presence or absence of asthma. Hypothesis A simplified questionnaire will predict asthma in adults. Study Objectives § Primary Objective o To evaluate the predictive value of a questionnaire designed to diagnose asthma in adults

About this trial record page

What this page shows

Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00620334, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.

What this page does not do

No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.

Where the data comes from

Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.

Last refresh

Last update posted Aug 10, 2010 · Synced Oct 14, 2026

Related: full search, browse by condition, browse by drug or therapy, browse by sponsor, browse by U.S. city.