One in three diagnosed with asthma do not have condition

A third of people recently diagnosed with asthma do not actually have the condition, research suggests.

Some people may be misdiagnosed with asthma while others may just have asthma that is no longer active, a new study found.

Experts led by a team at Ottawa University carried out detailed breathing tests on 613 patients from 10 Canadian cities. All had been diagnosed with asthma in the past five years.

The findings showed that 33% of patients did not have active asthma. More than 90% were able to stop their asthma medications and remained safely off medication for a year.

Dr Shawn Aaron, lead author and respirologist at the Ottawa Hospital and professor at the university, said: “It’s impossible to say how many of these patients were originally misdiagnosed with asthma, and how many have asthma that is no longer active.”