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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.

News

In Memoriam of Tadd Clayton
19 August 1965 - 11 February 2015

ISAAC collaborator awarded best poster prize

ISAAC collaborator Elaine Fuertes was awarded the prize for the best poster at the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology meeting in Basel. read more.

ISAAC links damp homes and asthma

The latest ISAAC paper shows a link between dampness in the home and impaired respiratory health in children and is a further ISAAC paper to attract editorial comment. View Editorial. | View article

ISAAC Cooking Fuels paper published

This ISAAC Phase Three EQ paper, ISAAC Cooking Fuels, has once again attracted editorial comment in its publishing journal, Lancet Respiratory Medicine View Editorial. Wong GWK, Brunekreef B, Ellwood P, Anderson HR, Asher MI, Crane J, Lai CKW, for the ISAAC Phase Three Study Group. Cooking fuels and prevalence of asthma: a global analysis of phase three of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). Lancet Resp Med 2013; Epub ahead of Print View abstract

ISAAC Diet 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