Background: The recently published GOLD guidelines provide a new system for staging
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from mild (stage I) to very severe (stage IV) and …

Rationale: The few prospective studies aimed at assessing the incidence of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) in relation to the presence of chronic cough/phlegm have …

Rationale: Few studies have investigated the factors associated with the early inception of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Objectives: We investigated COPD risk …

Background The joint distribution of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
has not been well described. This study aims at determining the prevalence of self-…

Background: This study is aimed at providing a real-world evaluation of the economic cost
of persistent asthma among European adults according to the degree of disease control [as …

The prevalence of asthma increased worldwide until the 1990s, but since then there has
been no clear temporal pattern. The present study aimed to assess time trends in the …

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic evidence related to asthma control in patients from the
general population is scanty. OBJECTIVES: We sought to assess asthma control in several …

The role of genetic and environmental factors, as well as their interaction, in the natural history
of asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is largely …

Background/Aims: Up to now, few cost-of-illness (COI) studies have estimated the cost of
adult asthma at an individual level on general population samples. We sought to evaluate the …

Background Environmental factors are likely to be involved in explaining the wide geographical
variation in asthma and atopic diseases that has been documented in many recent …