International Centre for Health and Society Seminar Series
14 November 2001 - 5pm
David Strachan
Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health Sciences, St
George's Hospital Medical School, London.
'Asthma, allergy and air pollution: missing the community
diagnosis?'
RSVP attendance by 12/11/01. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Abstract.
There is widespread concern that allergic diseases, including asthma,
are on the increase in Britain and other developed countries. Public
opinion links this “post industrial revolution epidemic” to changing
patterns of outdoor air pollution exposure, but the scientists are not so
sure. This lecture will address a series of related questions in the
search for the correct “community diagnosis” of time trends in asthma
and related conditions:
Hasthe burden of asthma increased, and is it still rising?
Isthis part of a general rise in allergic diseases?
Dothese trends reflect changes in environmental exposures or
host susceptibility?
Areoutdoor or indoor environmental exposures more important?
Whatmight underlie changes in host susceptibility?
Whatare the pointers to future directions for research?
David Peter Strachan, MD, MSc, MRCGP, FRCP, FFPHM
qualified in medicine from Edinburgh University in 1981. He obtained
his MD for epidemiological studies of childhood asthma and the home
environment. Professor Strachan has developed wide-ranging
research interests in the epidemiology of asthma, allergic rhinitis,
eczema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary heart
disease. He has recently studied the health effects of outdoor air
pollution, indoor air quality and chronic infections. In 1999, he was
awarded the European Respiratory Society prize for paediatric
respiratory research in Europe (jointly with Professor Derek Cook),
for systematic reviews of the effects of parental smoking on health of
children. Professor Strachan is an associate editor of Thorax and
was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2000.
RSVP attendance: [log in to unmask]
Patricia Crowley
Centre Administrator
International Centre for Health and Society
Dept of Epidemiology & Public Health, UCL
1 - 19 Torrington Place
London WC1E 6BT
Tel: (International code +44 20) or (Domestic code 020) 76791708
Fax: (International code +44 20) or (Domestic code 020) 7813 0280
Email: [log in to unmask]
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