Asthma Research and Outreach
EHSRC investigators have a long history of epidemiological and etiological research on asthma.
In the first U.S. national survey of endotoxin in housing, multivariate analysis showed significant relationships between increasing endotoxin levels and diagnosed asthma, asthma symptoms in the past year, current use of asthma medications, and wheezing among residents of the homes. When stratified by allergy status, allergic subjects with higher endotoxin exposure were no more likely to have diagnosed asthma or asthma symptoms than non-allergic subjects (Thorne, et al, AJRCCM, 2005);
In recent years, the impact of allergens, endotoxin, and glucans and indoor air quality variables in the home environment were found to be strongly linked to lung function, health status, and disease severity in adult asthma and rhinitis (Blanc, et al, J Occup Env Med, 2005). In addition, asthma prevalence and morbidity was documented to be as common in rural Iowa school children as in urban communities (Chrischilles, et al, JACI, 2004).
In rural and agricultural research on asthma, a project under the direction of Dr. James Merchant, documented asthma outcome models, including several farm and other rural exposures, to be significantly associated with exposure to swine farming and use of antibiotics used in animal feed in a study of a rural cohort of children (Merchant, et al, EHP, 2005). In another study, significant associations between pesticide exposures, especially for organophosphate insecticides, and wheeze among commercial pesticide applicators was documented from the Agricultural Health Study (Hoppin, et al, in press, 2005);
Studies of non-smoking farmers documented CD14/-159TT farmers to have significantly lower lung function by several measures compared to farmers with allele A. (LeVan, et al, AJRCCM, 2005); and tumor necrosis factor-α hyper-responsiveness to endotoxin from whole blood was significantly related to measures of respiratory disease (Lambert, et al, J Agromed, 2005).
Currently, researchers in the Environmental Lung Disease Research Cluster are pursuing epidemiological, etiological, and clinical research related to the detection, ascertainment, intervention, surveillance, and pathogenesis of environmental and agricultural airway disease, including agricultural and environmental asthma. In 2005, the University of Iowa Asthma Center was established under the direction of Dr. Joel Kline, further strengthening the institution's presence and contributions to asthma, airway inflammation, and innate immunity research.