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The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase One showed large worldwide variations in the prevalence of symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema, up to 10 to 20 fold between countries. Ecological analyses were undertaken with ISAAC Phase One data to explore factors that may have contributed to these variations, and are summarised and reviewed here. In ISAAC Phase One the prevalence of symptoms in the past 12 months of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema were estimated from studies in 463,801 children aged 13 - 14 years in 155 centres in 56 countries, and in 257,800 children aged 6-7 years in 91 centres in 38 countries. Ecological analyses were undertaken between symptom prevalence and the following: Gross National Product per capita (GNP), food intake, immunisation rates, tuberculosis notifications, climatic factors, tobacco consumption, pollen, antibiotic sales, paracetamol sales, and outdoor air pollution. Symptom prevalence of all three conditions was positively associated with GNP, trans fatty acids, paracetamol, and women smoking, and inversely associated with food of plant origin, pollen, immunisations, tuberculosis notifications, air pollution, and men smoking. The magnitude of these associations was small, but consistent in direction between conditions. There were mixed associations of climate and antibiotic sales with symptom prevalence. The potential causality of these associations warrant further investigation. Factors which prevent the development of these conditions, or where there is an absence of a positive correlation at a population level may be as important from the policy viewpoint as a focus on the positive risk factors. Interventions based on small associations may have the potential for a large public health benefit.

Background: Phase I of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) was designed to allow worldwide comparisons of the prevalence of asthma symptoms. In phase III the phase I survey was repeated in order to assess changes over time. Methods: The phase I survey was repeated after an interval of 5–10 years in 106 centres in 56 countries in children aged 13–14 years (n = 304 679) and in 66 centres in 37 countries in children aged 6–7 years (n = 193 404). Results: The mean symptom prevalence of current wheeze in the last 12 months changed slightly from 13.2% to 13.7% in the 13–14 year age group (mean increase of 0.06% per year) and from 11.1% to 11.6% in the 6–7 year age group (mean increase of 0.13% per year). There was also little change in the mean symptom prevalence of severe asthma or the symptom prevalence measured with the asthma video questionnaire. However, the time trends in asthma symptom prevalence showed different regional patterns. In Western Europe, current wheeze decreased by 0.07% per year in children aged 13–14 years but increased by 0.20% per year in children aged 6–7 years. The corresponding findings per year for the other regions in children aged 13–14 years and 6–7 years, respectively, were: Oceania (−0.39% and −0.21%); Latin America (+0.32% and +0.07%); Northern and Eastern Europe (+0.26% and +0.05%); Africa (+0.16% and +0.10%); North America (+0.12% and +0.32%); Eastern Mediterranean (−0.10% and +0.79%); Asia-Pacific (+0.07% and −0.06%); and the Indian subcontinent (+0.02% and +0.06%). There was a particularly marked reduction in current asthma symptom prevalence in English language countries (−0.51% and −0.09%). Similar patterns were observed for symptoms of severe asthma. However, the percentage of children reported to have had asthma at some time in their lives increased by 0.28% per year in the 13–14 year age group and by 0.18% per year in the 6–7 year age group. Conclusions: These findings indicate that international differences in asthma symptom prevalence have reduced, particularly in the 13–14 year age group, with decreases in prevalence in English speaking countries and Western Europe and increases in prevalence in regions where prevalence was previously low. Although there was little change in the overall prevalence of current wheeze, the percentage of children reported to have had asthma increased significantly, possibly reflecting greater awareness of this condition and/or changes in diagnostic practice. The increases in asthma symptom prevalence in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia indicate that the global burden of asthma is continuing to rise, but the global prevalence differences are lessening.

In developing countries, chronic respiratory diseases represent a challenge to public health because of their frequency, severity, projected trends, and economic impact. Health care planners, for example, are faced with a dramatic increase in tobacco use and must establish priorities for the allocation of limited resources. Nevertheless, smoking prevention and standardized management programmes for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease should be implemented in developing countries whenever possible. International measures will be required to reverse tobacco smoking trends, and international agencies could define essential drugs and equipment and encourage the use of generic drugs, particularly for corticosteroids inhaled at high dosages. For such programmes to be effective, producers of high-quality generics will need to be identified, and the medications added to national lists of essential drugs and included in procurement procedures. Other recommendations for alleviating the burden of chronic respiratory diseases in developing countries are: adapting guidelines to local contexts and ensuring their distribution; upgrading equipment at district level; purchasing high-quality drugs at low prices; routine training and supervision of health services personnel; and regular monitoring of performance. Social mobilization by professional societies, nongovernmental organizations, and the mass media will also increase government commitment to tobacco control and standardized case management.

To investigate the effect of using volunteer screeners in active tuberculosis case-finding in South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially among groups at high risk of tuberculosis infection. To identify and screen high-risk groups in remote communities, we trained volunteer screeners, mainly those who had themselves received treatment for tuberculosis or had a family history of the disease. A non-profit organization was created and screeners received training on the disease and its transmission at 3-day workshops. Screeners recorded the number of people screened, reporting a prolonged cough and who attended a clinic for testing, as well as test results. Data were evaluated every quarter during the 3-year period of the intervention (2014-2016). Acceptability of the intervention was high. Volunteers screened 650 434 individuals in their communities, 73 418 of whom reported a prolonged cough; 50 368 subsequently attended a clinic for tuberculosis testing. Tuberculosis was diagnosed in 1 in 151 people screened, costing 0.29 United States dollars (US$) per person screened and US$ 44 per person diagnosed. Although members of high-risk groups with poorer access to health care represented only 5.1% (33 002/650 434) of those screened, they contributed 19.7% (845/4300) of tuberculosis diagnoses (1 diagnosis per 39 screened). The intervention resulted in an additional 4300 sputum-smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis diagnoses, 42% (4 300/10 247) of the provincial total for that period. Patient-led active tuberculosis case-finding represents a valuable complement to traditional case-finding, and should be used to assist health systems in the elimination of tuberculosis.

Contemporary data on the availability, cost and affordability of essential medicines for chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are missing, despite most people with CRDs living in LMICs. Cross-sectional data for seven CRD medicines in pharmacies, healthcare facilities and central medicine stores were collected from 60 LMICs in 2022–2023. Medicines for symptomatic relief were widely available and affordable, while preventative treatments varied widely in cost, were less available and largely unaffordable. There is an urgent need to address these issues if the Sustainable Development Goal 3 is to be achieved for people with asthma by 2030.

Smoking is the most well-established cause of chronic airflow obstruction (CAO) but particulate air pollution and poverty have also been implicated. We regressed sex-specific prevalence of CAO from 41 Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease study sites against smoking prevalence from the same study, the gross national income per capita and the local annual mean level of ambient particulate matter (PM2.5) using negative binomial regression. The prevalence of CAO was not independently associated with PM2.5 but was strongly associated with smoking and was also associated with poverty. Strengthening tobacco control and improved understanding of the link between CAO and poverty should be prioritised.

Metodos Para identificar y examinar los grupos de alto riesgo en comunidades remotas, hemos formado a examinadores voluntarios, principalmente aquellos que habian recibido tratamiento para la tuberculosis o tenian antecedentes familiares de la enfermedad. Se creo una organizacion sin animo de lucroy los examinadores recibieron formacion sobre la enfermedad y su transmision en talleres de tres dias. Los examinadores registraron el numero de personas examinadas que mostraban una tos prolongada y que acudian a una clinica para hacerse la prueba, asi como los resultados de la prueba. Los datos se evaluaron cada trimestre durante el periodo de tres anos de la intervencion (2014-2016).

IntroductionWe investigated whether the forced expiratory volume in 6 s (FEV6) can be used as a surrogate for the forced vital capacity (FVC).MethodsThe Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease is a multinational cohort study. At baseline, data were collected from adults, aged 40 years or older, from 41 sites across 34 countries. Participants from 18 sites were followed-up after a median of 8.3 years. Participants who completed the study core questionnaire and had acceptable post-bronchodilator spirometry were included. We performed receiver operating characteristic analyses to measure the ability of FEV1/FEV6 less than the lower limit of normal (LLN) to correctly classify FEV1/FVC less than the LLN, and FEV6 less than the LLN to correctly classify FVC less than the LLN. We used multilevel regression analyses to assess the association of discordant measurements with respiratory symptoms, quality of life and lung function decline.ResultsAt baseline, 28 604 participants were included. 53% were female (15 060). 10% (2876) had chronic airflow obstruction for FEV1/FVC, compared with 9% (2704) for FEV1/FEV6. 37% (10 637) had spirometric restriction for FVC, compared with 35% (9978) for FEV6. The FEV1/FEV6 had excellent accuracy in identifying FEV1/FVC less than the LLN (area under the curve (AUC): 0.90, 95% CI, 0.89 to 0.91, κ coefficient 0.82). The FEV6 also had excellent agreement in identifying FVC less than the LLN (AUC: 0.95, 95% CI, 0.94 to 0.95, κ coefficient 0.90). Discordant reductions in FEV1/FEV6 (1%, 345) and FEV6 (1%, 309) were associated with greater odds of having respiratory symptoms and a lower physical quality of life. 3870 participants were followed up. Those with discordant reductions in FEV1/FEV6 and FEV6 were more likely to have chronic airflow obstruction and spirometric restriction at follow-up.ConclusionsThere is strong agreement between the FVC and FEV6 in the identification of chronic airflow obstruction and spirometric restriction.

IntroductionPrevious population-based studies, mainly from high-income countries, have shown that a higher forced vital capacity (FVC) is associated with a lower risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the longitudinal association between spirometry measures and the onset of cardiometabolic diseases across sites in low-income, middle-income and high-income countries.MethodsThe study population comprised 5916 individuals from 15 countries participating in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease baseline and follow-up assessments. Postbronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), FVC and FEV1/FVC were measured at baseline. Participants who reported having doctor-diagnosed hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and stroke at follow-up but not at baseline were considered new cases of these diseases. The association between lung function and the onset of participant-reported cardiometabolic diseases was assessed in each site using regression models, and estimates were combined using random effects meta-analysis. Models were adjusted for sex, age, smoking, body mass index and educational level.ResultsParticipants with greater per cent predicted FVC were less likely to have new-onset diabetes (OR per 10%=0.91, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.99), heart disease (OR per 10%=0.86, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.92) and stroke (OR per 10%=0.81, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.89) during the follow-up period (mean±SD 9.5±3.6 years). A greater percentage of FEV1 was associated with a lower risk of onset of heart disease and stroke. No significant association was found between FEV1/FVC and onset of reported cardiometabolic diseases, except for a higher risk of diabetes (OR per 10%=1.21, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.35) in participants with higher FEV1/FVC.ConclusionsThe findings of this study suggest that a low FVC is more important than a low FEV1/FVC as a risk factor for developing cardiometabolic diseases. The value of including FVC in risk score models to improve their precision in predicting the onset of cardiometabolic diseases should be explored.

In developing countries, chronic respiratory diseases represent a challenge to public health because of their frequency, severity, projected trends, and economic impact. Health care planners, for example, are faced with a dramatic increase in tobacco use and must establish priorities for the allocation of limited resources. Nevertheless, smoking prevention and standardized management programmes for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease should be implemented in developing countries whenever possible. International measures will be required to reverse tobacco smoking trends, and international agencies could define essential drugs and equipment and encourage the use of generic drugs, particularly for corticosteroids inhaled at high dosages. For such programmes to be effective, producers of high-quality generics will need to be identified, and the medications added to national lists of essential drugs and included in procurement procedures. Other recommendations for alleviating the burden of chronic respiratory diseases in developing countries are: adapting guidelines to local contexts and ensuring their distribution; upgrading equipment at district level; purchasing high-quality drugs at low prices; routine training and supervision of health services personnel; and regular monitoring of performance. Social mobilization by professional societies, nongovernmental organizations, and the mass media will also increase government commitment to tobacco control and standardized case management.