European Community Respiratory Health Survey III
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: National Heart and Lung Institute
Abstract
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are major causes of ill-health in older people. Having asthma and allergy in early adult life may increase the risk of having COPD in later years. This is of concern for health planning because the proportion of the population with asthma and allergy is increasing. We have been studying about 10000 adults for twenty years, and we would like to study them again and assess their respiratory health. There are few studies in which so many people have been monitored over such a long period of time and had detailed measures of respiratory health and allergic status made more than 20 years ago. We will examine changes in study participants? health, assess the relationship of asthma and allergy with COPD and assess the importance of factors that may influence respiratory disease, such as obesity, physical exercise and diet.
Technical Summary
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are major causes of morbidity in the aging population. Generational increases in the prevalence of asthma and allergy suggest the burden of these diseases will increase in the elderly population, but our knowledge of the prognosis of allergy and asthma is limited. It is thought that asthma and allergy produce airway inflammation that leads to airway remodelling, but there are few large longitudinal studies in adults that can examine the association of asthma and IgE sensitisation with COPD over decades.
The European Community Respiratory Health Survey has collected extensive information on respiratory phenotype in representative samples of more than 10000 adults on two occasions over the last twenty years. Researchers in collaborating centres wish to recontact study participants who are now aged between 40 and 65 years. The aims are to a) describe change in respiratory symptom prevalence in adults as they age b) assess change in IgE sensitisation to common allergens in adults as they age c) determine whether the prognosis of asthma is influenced by any observed change in atopic status d) assess whether atopic status and asthma as measured over a twenty year period is associated with lung function decline or the development of COPD in older adults e) describe the association of obesity and physical exercise with asthma, lung function, lung function decline and the prognosis of asthma
Cohort members will be examined as in previous surveys with additional measures of fatness and post bronchodilator lung function. In the British centres samples of nasal lining fluid will be obtained and analysed for inflammatory cytokines. Serum samples will be taken for assessment of IgE to common allergens in a single laboratory.
A repeat cross-sectional survey will be conducted to a) assess comparability of the survivor cohort with the current population b) identify prevalent asthma cases that will be included in the study increasing the number of asthmatics for some analyses c) increase the number of asthmatics for follow-up in the event of further follow-ups.
Funds are being requested for the execution of this project in two British centres and for coordination of the multicentre study (23 centres, 11 countries, 10 language groups). This application focuses on some specific analyses but the wealth of data collected through this and previous initiatives will provide a basis for further work to examine the role of environmental and lifestyle factors with respiratory disease.
The European Community Respiratory Health Survey has collected extensive information on respiratory phenotype in representative samples of more than 10000 adults on two occasions over the last twenty years. Researchers in collaborating centres wish to recontact study participants who are now aged between 40 and 65 years. The aims are to a) describe change in respiratory symptom prevalence in adults as they age b) assess change in IgE sensitisation to common allergens in adults as they age c) determine whether the prognosis of asthma is influenced by any observed change in atopic status d) assess whether atopic status and asthma as measured over a twenty year period is associated with lung function decline or the development of COPD in older adults e) describe the association of obesity and physical exercise with asthma, lung function, lung function decline and the prognosis of asthma
Cohort members will be examined as in previous surveys with additional measures of fatness and post bronchodilator lung function. In the British centres samples of nasal lining fluid will be obtained and analysed for inflammatory cytokines. Serum samples will be taken for assessment of IgE to common allergens in a single laboratory.
A repeat cross-sectional survey will be conducted to a) assess comparability of the survivor cohort with the current population b) identify prevalent asthma cases that will be included in the study increasing the number of asthmatics for some analyses c) increase the number of asthmatics for follow-up in the event of further follow-ups.
Funds are being requested for the execution of this project in two British centres and for coordination of the multicentre study (23 centres, 11 countries, 10 language groups). This application focuses on some specific analyses but the wealth of data collected through this and previous initiatives will provide a basis for further work to examine the role of environmental and lifestyle factors with respiratory disease.