OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the frequencies of allergic symptoms and rate of upper respiratory infections during the past year in the general population, kitchen workers (KW) and health care workers (HCW). METHODS The European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) was used to inquire retrospectively about asthma and asthma-like symptoms and the number of treatments required for previ...

The authors recently observed that frequent paracetamol use was positively associated with asthma and rhinitis in young adults. Therefore, an ecological analysis was performed to measure international associations between paracetamol sales and atopic disease prevalences in children and adults. Published data from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) on the preval...

Understanding of geographical differences in asthma prevalence may be helpful in explaining recent increases in the occurrence of asthma. We wondered whether differences in allergic sensitization or other factors could explain differences in reported occurrence of asthma between an urban centre and a neighbouring suburban area. From the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) quest...

BACKGROUND A study was carried out to determine whether subjects with respiratory symptoms are more likely to have impaired lung function or increased airway lability, and to quantify these relationships in a population of adults. METHODS Data were collected from 511 participants (aged 20-70 years) from the Dutch part of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS). The symptoms a...

BACKGROUND A study was undertaken to investigate quality of life in asthma, defined by differing criteria, to see which may be most appropriate in epidemiological studies. METHODS The 426 adults were participants in the follow up phase of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) in Melbourne. As part of the laboratory visit, participants completed the SF-36 quality of life que...

In young adults, a higher occurrence of asthma-related symptoms was found in an urban than an adjacent suburban area in a survey performed in 1991. The authors now wondered whether such differences could be established in other age groups. The present study (in 1996) included 14,299 subjects, aged 5-75 yrs, of a random sample of the general population in the same two adjacent areas: the centre ...

OBJECTIVES The chronic effects of urban air pollution are not well known. The authors' aim was to investigate the association between the prevalence and new onset of chronic bronchitis and urban air pollution. METHODS Subjects from the general population randomly selected for the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS I) during 1991-93 in 21 centres in 10 countries were followed ...

OBJECTIVE There is uncertainty as to whether asthma has an effect on final height. We investigated using subjective and objective assessments whether untreated asthma is associated with final height, leg length and sitting height to leg length ratio in an area of Chile in which almost no one received asthma treatment. METHODS We collected data on 1232 males and females aged 22-28 years in a s...

OBJECTIVES Early life environment is essential for lung growth and maximally attained lung function. Whether early life exposures impact on lung function decline in adulthood, an indicator of lung ageing, has scarcely been studied. METHODS Spirometry data from two time points (follow-up time 9-11 years) and information on early life exposures, health and life-style were available from 12862 p...

INTRODUCTION Over the last three decades the prevalence of respiratory diseases has been increasing worldwide thus increasing economic burden on the healthcare system. Recent studies have shown that the prevalence of asthma in West European countries ranges from 6-9%, while of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) is 8.0% worldwide. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to estimate the p...