Nasal swab test may improve asthma care in children

Using nasal swabs to identify a child’s asthma subtype may lead to more precise medication prescribing and development of better treatments for what have been harder to diagnose types of the respiratory condition, researchers reported on Thursday in JAMA.Asthma is a highly variable disease with different endotypes, or mechanisms of action, that respond differently to various treatments, study leader Dr Juan Celedon of UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh said in a statement.Confirmation of endotype usually involves genetic analysis of lung tissue samples obtained under general…