Asthma Epidemiology Principles and Methods

by Pearce, Neil; Beasley, Richard; Burgess, Carl; Crane, Julian

• ISBN13: 9780195080162
• ISBN10: 0195080165
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-02-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Asthma prevalence is increasing worldwide, and there is growing concern about the burden of asthma both for patients and for the health sevices. There have also been major changes in the way in which the management of asthma death in some western countries in the 1960's and again in the 1970's. Asthma epidemiology has a major role to play in investigating the causes of these global changes, and in developing preventive interventions. This is the first text on the principles and methods of asthma epidemiology. It describes the types of asthma epidemiology studies, and discusses the strengths and limitations of the various methods of measuring asthma prevalence and asthma morbidity and the major risk factors for asthma, methods of studying the causes of asthma deaths. The book will therefore be of interest not only to epidemiologists, but also to the very large number of respiratory physicians, allergist, and pediatricians who are becoming involved in asthma epidemiology.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction	3	(16)
Asthma	3	(7)
Asthma epidemiology	10	(9)
Part I Basic Principles of Asthma Epidemiology	19	(56)
2. Study design options	19	(30)
Background	20	(3)
Incidence studies	23	(8)
Incidence case-control studies	31	(1)
Measures of effect in incidence case-control studies	32	(2)
Prevalence studies	34	(1)
Measures of effect in prevalence studies	35	(2)
Prevalence case-control studies	37	(1)
Measures of effect in prevalence case-control studies	38	(1)
Cross-sectional studies	38	(1)
Measures of effect in cross-sectional studies	39	(1)
Longitudinal studies	40	(4)
Summary	44	(5)
3. Study design issues	49	(26)
Precision	49	(3)
Validity	52	(4)
Effect modification	66	(2)
Summary	68	(7)
Part II Asthma Morbidity	75	(128)
4. Measuring asthma prevalence	75	(40)
Introduction	75	(5)
General considerations	80	(6)
Symptoms	86	(8)
Physiological measures	94	(10)
Strategies for measuring asthma prevalence	104	(3)
Summary	107	(8)
5. Measuring asthma morbidity	115	(28)
Introduction	115	(2)
Symptoms	117	(3)
Physiological measures	120	(3)
Health service and medication usage	123	(4)
Quality of life and knowledge of asthma	127	(8)
Composite measures	135	(2)
Summary	137	(6)
6. Measuring asthma risk factors	143	(60)
General considerations	143	(4)
Demographic factors	147	(1)
Genetic factors and early life events	148	(8)
Atopy	156	(4)
Indoor environment	160	(9)
Outdoor environment	169	(7)
Occupational exposures	176	(6)
Other exposures	182	(3)
Summary	185	(18)
Part III Asthma Mortality	203	(58)
7. Studying time trends in asthma deaths	203	(22)
Introduction	203	(4)
Assessing the validity of time trends	207	(5)
Assessing possible explanations for time trends	212	(9)
Summary	221	(4)
8. Studying the causes of asthma deaths	225	(36)
Background	225	(1)
Study design options	226	(11)
Case-control studies of asthma deaths	237	(20)
Summary	257	(4)
Index	261