When Rubber Meets the Road: Do Guidelines Translate to Proper Diagnosis of Asthma?

Abstract

Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines published annually follow a systematic approach in asthma diagnosis and management looking at patients with signs and symptoms of asthma along with objective evaluations centered on pulmonary function testing (PFT). The aim of this study is to evaluate if GINA guidelines are being utilized in outpatient primary care clinics to diagnose asthma. METHODS: After approval from the Institutional Review Board, a retrospective chart review was conducted among patients with diagnosis of asthma in two primary care clinics from November 2019 to January 2020. Baseline demographics, severity of symptoms including number of ED visits for exacerbations in a year, documented PFT, serum IgE levels, and FeNO levels were obtained.