Nearly one-third of patients who have been diagnosed with a respiratory disease not related to asthma completed a validated questionnaire that suggested an asthma diagnosis, according to recent research.

Researchers evaluated 2,090 patients recruited from 540 general practitioners who completed the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS).

Although the 1,099 patients had a physician diagnosis not related to asthma, ECRHS results from 365 patients (33.2%) suggested an asthma diagnosis, researchers noted.