BACKGROUND Epidemiological studies have shown weak or inconsistent associations between ambient air pollutants and allergic sensitization. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether regional urban air pollution may partly explain the large variation in the prevalence of allergic sensitization across cities of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) II. METHODS ECRHS is a c...

The European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) was the first study to assess the geographical variation in asthma and allergy in adults using the same instruments and definitions. The database of the ECRHS includes information from approximately 140,000 individuals from 22 countries. The aim of this review is to summarize the results of the ECRHS to date. The ECRHS has shown that ther...

BACKGROUND No population study has explored the population distribution of adult asthma in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The objective is to estimate asthma prevalence in general population in UAE. METHODS Using standard European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) questionnaires and tools, this is a cross-sectional assessment of a random sample of the population in established quot...

BACKGROUND Selection bias is a systematic error in epidemiologic studies that may seriously distort true measures of associations between exposure and disease. Observational studies are highly susceptible to selection bias, and researchers should therefore always examine to what extent selection bias may be present in their material and what characterizes the bias in their material. In the pres...

The aim of our analysis was to study the association between air pollution and asthma among adults. For this goal, a previously developed "asthma score" was used. Persons aged 25-44 yrs were randomly selected (1991-1993) and followed up (2000-2002) within the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS I and II, respectively). The asthma score was defined from 0 to 5, based on the posit...

R de Marco, S Accordini, I Cerveri, A Corsico, J Sunyer, F Neukirch, N Künzli, B Leynaert, C Janson, T Gislason, P Vermeire, C Svanes, J M Anto, P Burney, for the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) Study Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

BACKGROUND Cat exposure during childhood has been shown to increase the risk of developing cat sensitization, while the effect of cat exposure in adulthood has not yet been established. OBJECTIVE To evaluate new-onset sensitization to cat in adulthood in relation to changes in cat keeping. METHODS A total of 6292 European Community Respiratory Health Survey I (ECRHS I) participants aged 20 ...