A NEW breath test already being used by pioneering medics in the North-East has been recommended for use on the NHS in a bid to prevent asthma attacks.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued new guidance for the NHS recommending the use of simple, 10-second tests to help diagnose and treat asthma in children and adults.
It is hoped the breath tests - which check airways inflammation and could help to prevent asthma attacks and hospitalisations for sufferers - will now be made widely available on the NHS.
But children in the North-East are already benefiting from the 10-second test.
Carried out with a handheld device, the test measures fractional exhaled nitric oxide, or FeNO levels, which are higher in people with asthma than those without, to help diagnose and manage the condition.
Medics at The Great North Children’s Hospital at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary are already carrying out FeNO tests in their asthma clinic. They fed their experience through to NICE as part of the process to draw up the guidelines for the rest of the NHS.
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