BACKGROUND The role of exposure to substances in the workplace in new-onset asthma is not well characterised in population-based studies. We therefore aimed to estimate the relative and attributable risks of new-onset asthma in relation to occupations, work-related exposures, and inhalation accidents. METHODS We studied prospectively 6837 participants from 13 countries who previously took par...

BACKGROUND Several genes identified by positional cloning have been associated with asthma and atopy, but few findings have been replicated. Age at onset of asthma has been associated with different phenotypic characteristics, and with variants at chromosome 17q21 identified through genome-wide association. This study examined the associations and age-specific effects on asthma, atopy and bronc...

The prevalence of asthma has increased worldwide. However, there is only local evidence for changes in incidence. Data from the European Community Respiratory Heath Survey (ECRHS) can be analysed to reconstruct trends in incidence from 1946-1991 in cohorts born between 1946-1971 in 35 areas corresponding to 15 countries. The authors report the time trends in self-reported first occurrence of as...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the factors associated with nocturnal, productive and dry cough among young adults in Nigeria. METHODS We evaluated 498 subjects, 20-44 years of age, in Ilorin, Nigeria, using the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) questionnaire, administered by trained interviewers. RESULTS Nocturnal cough was associated with asthma (OR = 1...

The prevalence of asthma increased worldwide until the 1990s, but since then there has been no clear temporal pattern. The present study aimed to assess time trends in the prevalence of current asthma, asthma-like symptoms and allergic rhinitis in Italian adults from 1990 to 2010. The same screening questionnaire was administered by mail or phone to random samples of the general population (age...

The objective of this longitudinal study was to estimate the incidence rate of asthma, and to compare the incidence between subjects with or without baseline reporting of certain respiratory symptoms. A follow-up of the random population samples in the European Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Estonia was conducted in 1999-2001, in a population aged 30-5...

S tandardised population based health surveys have produced much useful information on the prevalence and determinants of asthma in children (International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Children (ISAAC) study) and adults (European Community Respiratory Health Study (ECRHS) study). Most sites participating in these studies have been in high income countries and, because some centres took part a...

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between exposure to organophosphate (OP) and pyrethroid (PYR) pesticides with serum cytokine patterns and asthma-related outcomes among rural women workers. A cross-sectional study was conducted among rural women (n = 211), including those working and living on farms and nearby town dwellers. Pesticide exposure was assessed using u...

Recent studies of children suggest that factors encountered in a farm environment might protect against the development of allergy. However, it remains uncertain whether living on a farm in childhood is associated with a decreased risk of atopic diseases in adulthood. We analyzed data from 6,251 randomly selected adults 20 to 44 yr of age participating in the European Community Respiratory Heal...