NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – According to a Dutchstudy, less than half of all children prescribed asthma medicationhave been formally diagnosed with asthma by their doctor.

In a study of 74,580 children younger than age 18, theresearchers found that 7.5 percent of children received asthmamedication and 4.1 percent had a diagnosis of asthma.

Only 49 percent of all children being treated with asthma drugshad been diagnosed as an asthmatic, Dr. Mira G. Zuidgeest fromUtrecht University, The Netherlands, and colleagues report in theonline journal BioMedCentral (BMC)-Health Services Research.

Further detailed subgroup analyses showed that a diagnosis ofasthma was present in “at most 66 percent of children.” This wasthe case “even in children treated extensively with asthmamedications, such as children prescribed inhaled corticosteroids orreceiving asthma medication on at least three occasions within onyear,” the investigators point out.

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