ISAAC, The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, is a unique worldwide epidemiological research programme established in 1991 to investigate asthma, rhinitis and eczema in children due to considerable concern that these conditions were increasing in western and developing countries.
ISAAC has become the largest worldwide collaborative research project ever undertaken, involving more than 100 countries and nearly 2 million children and its aim is to develop environmental measures and disease monitoring in order to form the basis for future interventions to reduce the burden of allergic and non-allergic diseases, especially in children in developing countries.
The ISAAC findings have shown that these diseases are increasing in developing countries and that they have little to do with allergy, especially in the developing world. Further population studies are urgently needed to discover more about the underlying mechanisms of non-allergic causes of asthma, rhinitis and eczema and the burden of these conditions.
New network to continue ISAAC's work in asthma
The ISAAC Programme formally finished in December 2012. The Global Asthma Network was founded in 2012 and will extend the work of ISAAC in the asthma field.
The ISAAC Story
The ISAAC Steering Committee is proud to announce that the ISAAC Story, a 20 year history of ISAAC, is available on the website. This fascinating account contains details from the how ISAAC was first conceived through to the findings of the very latest papers. Recollections of founding members, full descriptions of all aspects of the methodology and tools, all publications graphs and maps are available as well as pages for each of the 9 regions, 105 countries and 306 centres containing centre information, collaborators and personal recollections of the investigators.
View the ISAAC Story
Phase Three Data
The ISAAC Phase One and Three data is now available from all centres
Phase One | Phase Three
Phase One Data
The ISAAC Phase One individual data is now available on the ISAAC website
View
ISAAC Symposium
Speakers notes from the ISAAC 20 year symposium are now available on the website.
Download slides
ISAAC Publications
Our user friendly publications page is regularly updated with the latest ISAAC publications.
View
ISAAC Tools
ISAAC questionnaires and tools have now been collated on one page for ease of use
View
Asthma Guidelines
ISAAC has collected a range of asthma management guidelines with no Pharmaeceutical funding
View
The ISAAC Programme formally finished in December 2012. The Global Asthma Network was founded in 2012 and will extend the work of ISAAC in the asthma field.
Please acknowledge the ISAAC Steering Committee when using any of the material in this web site.
Website design by Eamon Ellwood. Please contact Eamon if you would like to link to this page.
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This website is hosted by The University of Auckland 
ISAAC News
Latest ISAAC paper published
Fast food diet linked to asthma and eczema severity in kids
Findings consistent around the globe for 3+ weekly servings
Ellwood P, Asher MI, García-Marcos L, Williams H, Keil U, Robertson C, Nagel G and the ISAAC Phase Three Study Group. Do fast foods cause asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema? Global findings from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Three. Thorax 2013; Online First: doi 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-202285
Supplemental tables
Eating three or more weekly servings of fast food is linked to the severity of allergic asthma, eczema, and rhinitis among children—in the developed world—indicates the latest Phase Three paper published online in the respiratory journal Thorax. read more
First paper for 2013
The ISAAC BMI paper, the latest Phase Three EQ paper, has attracted editorial comment in this issue of Clinical and Experimental Allergy View Editorial. Mitchell EA, Beasley R, Björkstén B, Crane J, García-Marcos L, Keil U and the ISAAC Phase Three Study Group. The association between BMI, vigorous physical activity and television viewing and the risk of symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in children and adolescents: ISAAC Phase Three. Clin Exp Allergy. 2013; 43(1): 73–84 View abstract
Latest ISAAC Newsletter
The December 2012 newsletter, which is sadly the last for ISAAC, is now available on the website. We would like to thank all our collaborators for their wonderful contributions to ISAAC and the newsletters over the past years. view newsletter
European Respiratory Monograph
The recently published Paediatric Asthma issue of the European Respiratory Society’s (ERS) quarterly book series, the European Respiratory Monograph (ERM) has been included on the ISAAC Resources Page. Read more…
ERS members can freely access the Paediatric Asthma issue online at http://erm.ersjournals.com/content/ermpa/1.toc. To purchase a print copy of the issue or to find out more about the ERM, contact monograph@ersj.org.uk