PracticeUpdate Conference Series: ERS 2018

The multicenter study began in 1990 and investiga- tors collected data frommostly European countries. It was a two-stage study, with approximately 200,000 participants in the questionnaire stage 1, and 26,000 in the clinical stage 2. A follow-up study, the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II, was carried out from 1998–2002. Over 200 papers have been published and more reports from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II are in preparation. Participants are being followed a second time in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey III. Guy Brusselle, MD, of Ghent University in Belgium, was not involved in the study, commented: “With the right medication, many patients with asthma gain good control of their symptoms. There is no cure for asthma, however, and there is still a lot we do not know about its causes and its effects on the rest of the body. This research is an important step in helping us untangle the relationship between obesity and asthma. It also raises new questions about why the two are linked and what can be done to help patients.”

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ERS 2018 • PRACTICEUPDATE CONFERENCE SERIES 17