EDITORIALS
Tackling asthma phenotypes in community studies
Correspondence to:
Dr Peter G Gibson, Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, John Hunter Hospital, Locked Bag 1, HRMC NSW 2310 Newcastle, Australia; peter.gibson@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Episodic wheezing with variable airflow obstruction (asthma) defines a syndrome that is well recognised and much studied. It is now clear that this syndrome is heterogeneous in its clinical features, treatment response, prognosis and pathophysiological mechanisms. Causation remains elusive, yet the differences in asthma prevalence across the world,1 the effect of migration on changing asthma prevalence2 and the rise in asthma prevalence in the past decades highlight very potent gene and environmental effects that modify the clinical expression of asthma.3
Studying asthma heterogeneity is a useful way to disentangle these complex issues.4 The intense focus on allergic mechanisms has given us very precise understanding of the Th2–eosinophil mechanistic pathway, effective and specific treatment—for example, anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) monoclonal antibody treatment—and shown that a primary prevention strategy based on this approach is not likely to be beneficial.
Current attention is focusing on patterns of granulocyte infiltration, specifically the presence or absence
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Articles
- Airwaves
- Wisia Wedzicha
Thorax 2009 64: i.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Heterogeneity of asthma according to blood inflammatory patterns
- R Nadif, V Siroux, M-P Oryszczyn, C Ravault, C Pison, I Pin, F Kauffmann on behalf of the Epidemiological study on the Genetics and Environment of Asthma (EGEA)
Thorax 2009 64: 374-380.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
