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 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 to date 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, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema and the burden of these conditions.

ISAAC News

Prestigious New Appointment for Professor Williams

ISAAC Steering Committee member Professor Hywel Williams has been appointed the new Chair of the UK's NIHR Health Technology Assessment Commissioning Board...read more

Phase Three Antibiotics paper published

Antibiotic use in infancy and risk of symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in 6 to 7 year old children: ISAAC Phase Three.Foliaki S, Pearce N, Björkstén B, Mallol J, Montefort S, von Mutius E and the ISAAC Phase Three Study Group.J Allergy Clin Immunol 2009;124:982-9.more

ISAAC Masqueraders

The IIDC has noticed a number of papers incorrectly titled as ISAAC...read more

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ISAAC on Wikipedia

ISAAC now has an article in the free encyclopedia 'Wikipedia'. View the article here.

New Advanced Search Page

The new ISAAC advanced search page now picks up authors listed in study groups. Try it out here.

Phase One Air Pollution released as e-publication

Ambient particulate pollution and the world-wide prevalence of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in children: Phase One of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). Anderson HR et al. Occup Environ Med Epub 9 October 2009. more

Phase Three Truck Traffic paper published

Self Reported Truck Traffic on the Street of Residence and Symptoms of Asthma and Allergic Disease: A Global Relationship in ISAAC Phase Three. Brunekreef B et al. Environ Health Perspect 2009; 117(11): 1791-98. more

ISAAC Phase Two paper published

How well do questionnaires perform compared with physical examination in detecting flexural eczema? Findings from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Two.Flohr C et al. Br J Dermatol 2009; 161(4): 846-853. more