Father's environment before conception and asthma risk in his children: a multi-generation analysis of the Respiratory Health In Northern Europe study.

Background: Whereas it is generally accepted that maternal environment plays a key role in child health, emerging evidence suggests that paternal environment before conception also impacts child health. We aimed to investigate the association between children's asthma risk and parental smoking and welding exposures prior to conception.

Methods: In a longitudinal, multi-country study, parents of 24 168 offspring aged 2-51 years provided information on their life-course smoking habits, occupational exposure to welding and metal fumes, and offspring's asthma before/after age 10 years and hay fever.

The Association of Gum Bleeding with Respiratory Health in a Population Based Study from Northern Europe.

Background: There is little knowledge about how oral and respiratory health is interrelated even though the mucosa of the oral cavity and airways constitutes a continuum and the exposures to these are partly similar.

Aims: To investigate whether gum bleeding is related to asthma, respiratory symptoms and self-reported COPD.

Methods: A postal questionnaire including questions about respiratory and oral health was sent to general population samples in seven Northern European centres.

Respiratory Health in Cleaners in Northern Europe: Is Susceptibility Established in Early Life?

Rationale: There is some evidence that maternal smoking increases susceptibility to personal smoking's detrimental effects. One might question whether early life disadvantage might influence susceptibility to occupational exposure.

Objectives: In this cross-sectional study we investigated respiratory symptoms, asthma and self-reported chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as related to working as a cleaner in Northern European populations, and whether early life factors influenced susceptibility to occupational cleaning's unhealthy effects.

Longterm follow-up in European respiratory health studies - patterns and implications.

Background: Selection bias is a systematic error in epidemiologic studies that may seriously distort true measures of associations between exposure and disease. Observational studies are highly susceptible to selection bias, and researchers should therefore always examine to what extent selection bias may be present in their material and what characterizes the bias in their material. In the present study we examined long-term participation and consequences of loss to follow-up in the studies Respiratory Health in Northern Europe (RHINE), Italian centers of European Community Respiratory Health Survey (I-ECRHS), and the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults (ISAYA).

Increased prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a general population.

Background: Prevalence of COPD is increasing worldwide, and there is need for regularly updated estimates of COPD prevalence and risk factors.

Methods: In the Norwegian Hordaland County Cohort Study (HCCS), 1664 subjects aged 35-90 yrs answered questionnaires and performed spirometry in 2003-05. We estimated COPD prevalence and analysed risk factors for COPD with logistic regression.

Mortality by level of emphysema and airway wall thickness.

Rationale: There is limited knowledge of the prognostic value of quantitative computed tomography (CT) measures of emphysema and airway wall thickness (AWT) on mortality.

Objectives: To examine 8-year mortality in relation to CT-measured emphysema and AWT, and assess if potential impact of these predictors remained after adjustment for lung function.

Methods: In the Norwegian GenKOLS study of 2003-2005, 947 ever-smokers (49% with COPD) aged 40-85 years performed spirometry and CT examination.

The adult incidence of asthma and respiratory symptoms by passive smoking in uterus or in childhood.

The effects of pre- or postnatal passive smoking on the adult incidence of asthma have not been reported previously. Between 1985 and 1996/1997, we conducted an 11-year community cohort study on the incidence of asthma and respiratory symptoms in Western Norway. The cohort included 3,786 subjects aged 15 to 70 years, of which 2,819 were responders at both baseline and follow-up.