Asthma: Steps in testing and diagnosis

If you have wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath, your doctor may suspect you have asthma. But these signs and symptoms alone aren't enough to diagnose asthma because they can also be caused by other conditions. Your doctor will base your diagnosis on a number of things, including a physical exam and answers to questions about your symptoms and health (medical history). In addition, you may need further evaluation, which can include lung function tests or other tests.

Asthma signs and symptoms

Common signs and symptoms of asthma include:

• Recurrent wheezing
• Coughing
• Trouble breathing
• Chest tightness
• Symptoms that occur or worsen at night
• Symptoms that are triggered by cold air, exercise or exposure to allergens

In a young child, additional signs and symptoms may indicate asthma. They may include:

• Breathing that is louder than normal or faster than normal. Newborns typically take 30 to 60 breaths a minute. Toddlers typically take 20 to 40 breaths a minute.
• Frequent coughing or coughing that worsens after active play.
• Coughing, clear mucus and a runny nose caused by hay fever.

Medical history

Your doctor will ask you about several things, which may include:

• What your symptoms are
• If you have hay fever or other allergies — which can be linked to asthma
• Whether you have any biological (blood) relatives with hay fever or other allergies
• What health problems you have now or have had in the past
• What medications or herbal supplements you take

Physical exam

A physical exam for possible asthma generally includes:

• An examination of your nose, throat and upper airways (upper respiratory tract).
• Listening to the sounds your lungs make with a stethoscope as you breathe. Wheezing — high-pitched whistling sounds when you breathe out — is one of the main signs of asthma.
• Examining your skin for signs of allergic conditions such as eczema and hives, which are often associated with asthma.

Lung function tests

Although your symptoms, medical history and physical examination may suggest that you have asthma, lung function tests (also called pulmonary function tests) may be needed to confirm an asthma diagnosis. Lung function tests may include one or more of the following tests.

Spirometry
This noninvasive test measures how well you breathe. During spirometry, you take deep breaths and forcefully exhale into a hose connected to a machine called a spirometer. Spirometry testing reveals two measurements that are important in diagnosing asthma:

• Forced vital capacity (FVC), which is the maximum amount of air you can inhale and exhale
• Forced expiratory volume (FEV-1), which is the maximum amount of air you can exhale in one second

Your doctor will compare these two measurements. If certain key measurements are below normal for a person your age, it may be a sign that your airways are obstructed. Your doctor may ask you to inhale a bronchodilator drug used in asthma treatment to open obstructed air passages and then try the test again. If your measurements improve significantly, it's likely that you have asthma. Your doctor may still suspect that you have asthma even if your initial spirometry measurements are normal. If so, you may need additional tests.

Exhaled nitric oxide test
A relatively new tool for measuring asthma, the nitric oxide test is available in only some hospitals and doctors' offices. High levels of nitric oxide gas in the air you breathe out can be a sign of asthma. Nitric oxide gas is produced by the body normally, but high levels in your breath can mean your airways are inflamed — a sign of asthma.

Challenge test
During this test, your doctor deliberately tries to trigger airway obstruction and asthma symptoms by having you inhale an airway-constricting substance such as methacholine. If you appear to have asthma triggered by exercise (exercise-induced asthma), you may be asked to do vigorous physical activity to trigger symptoms.

After triggering your symptoms, you retake the spirometry test. If your spirometry measurements are still normal, it's likely that you don't have asthma. But if your measurements have fallen significantly, it may mean you have asthma.

When checking children under age 5, doctors seldom conduct lung function tests because young children usually have trouble following the instructions. Instead, when a child's signs and symptoms, medical history, and physical examination suggest asthma, the doctor may prescribe a bronchodilator — a drug that opens the airways. If your child's signs and symptoms improve after using the bronchodilator, an asthma diagnosis is likely.

Image showing person using a spirometer

A spirometer — useful in diagnosing conditions such as asthma — measures how much air you're able to breathe in and out and how much time it takes you to fill and empty your lungs. ...

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Additional tests: Ruling out conditions other than asthma

Depending on your age, your medical history and initial testing, your doctor may suspect that you have a condition other than asthma. Conditions that can cause asthma-like symptoms include:

• Other lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Airway tumors
• Airway obstruction
• Bronchitis
• Lung infection (pneumonia)
• Blood clot in the lung (pulmonary embolism)
• Congestive heart failure
• Vocal cord dysfunction
• Viral lower respiratory tract infection

If your doctor suspects that you have another condition, you may have other tests, such as:

• Chest and sinus X-rays
• Complete blood count
• Computerized tomography (CT) scans of the lungs
• Gastroesophageal reflux assessment
• Sputum induction and examination

Your doctor may also want to see whether you have any other conditions that can accompany asthma. These include:

• Heartburn, or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
• Hay fever
• Sinusitis

Your doctor may also perform allergy tests. Although allergy tests aren't used to diagnose asthma, they can help identify substances that may be causing or worsening your asthma.