A study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology shows that children born with HIV may be falsely diagnosed with asthma.
Instead, the diagnosis appears to be a new early chronic obstructive lung disease that might increase the risk for lung complications later in life. The study appears in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
“Recent studies have shown that the diagnosis of asthma appears to be increasing in children who were infected with HIV at birth,” said first author Dr. William Shearer, distinguished service professor of pediatrics – allergy and immunology at Baylor College of Medicine.
Most asthma diagnoses are clinical, meaning that physicians reach a diagnosis according to the results of the patient’s physical examination and records of asthma medications taken over time.
