Children with asthma are not likely to be diagnosed accurately and, as a result, may miss out on treatments to help control the condition, according to a new report released in February.

Asthma is the most common chronic illness among children in the US, and according to the American Lung Association, it affects over 8.5 million people under the age of 18.

It is recommended by the US government health experts that children with mild to severe persistent asthma use maintenance medications daily to control their illness. But one recent study found 74% of US children with asthma were receiving inadequate maintenance therapy, researchers at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York noted in the February issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

What's more, the researchers point out that some parents may interpret a certain number of symptoms as normal and may not realize that preventive medications are available.

Any attempts to improve adherence to asthma treatment guidelines, they conclude, should take into account doctors' potential underestimation of asthma severity.

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Khorsheed.com - Mar 2002