CHARACTERIZATION OF SUBJECTS WITH SEVERE ASTHMA

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。在北美、欧洲和澳大利亚，哮喘影响大约8%的成年人和高达20%的儿童。这些患者大多数患有轻至中度疾病，可通过吸入皮质类固醇和吸入短效b -肾上腺素能激动剂来控制。然而，据估计，约5%至10%的哮喘患者患有严重疾病，对常规治疗方式（包括全身性皮质类固醇）没有反应。这组患者是哮喘患者的一个重要子集。例如，他们的生活方式受到的损害最大，他们的疾病对卫生保健系统产生深远影响，因为他们使用了不成比例的卫生保健费用。此外，少数民族和妇女也分担这一负担。最后，人们对哮喘的这方面了解甚少，因此对新疗法有很大的限制。NIH/NHLBI资助了一个由8名研究人员组成的小组，一个数据协调中心（DCC）和一个数据安全监测委员会（DSMB），隶属于缩写SARP（严重哮喘研究计划）。我们认为，在一些患者中，严重哮喘可能是由病毒、肺炎支原体或肺炎衣原体的持续呼吸道感染引起的，这在严重疾病中更为常见。为了评估这一假设，将确定重度哮喘人群，并将其与轻度至中度哮喘和正常对照进行比较。这些研究的主要目的是确定持续性呼吸道感染的证据是否与严重哮喘相关，并导致更大的气流限制。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Asthma affects approximately 8% of the adult population and up to 20% of children in North America, Europe, and Australia. The majority of these patients have mild-to-moderate disease, which can be controlled with inhaled corticosteroids and an inhaled short acting B-adrenergic agonist. It is, however, estimated that about 5% to 10% of asthma patients have severe disease that does not respond to usual treatment modalities, including systemic corticosteroids. This group of patients is an important subset of asthma patients. For example, they suffer the greatest impairment of their lifestyle, and their disease has a profound impact on the health-care system as they use a disproportional amount of health-care costs. Furthermore minorities and women share this burden. Finally, this aspect of asthma is poorly understood, and thus there are major limitations to new therapeutics. The NIH/NHLBI has funded a group of 8 investigators, a Data Coordinating Center (DCC), and a Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) under the Acronym SARP (Severe Asthma Research Program). We believe that severe asthma may be caused, in some patients, by a persistent respiratory infections with viruses, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, or Chlamydia pneumoniae, and that this will be more common in severe disease. To evaluate this hypothesis, a severe asthma population will be identified and compared to mild-to-moderate asthma and normal controls. The primary objective of these studies will be to determine whether evidence of a persistent respiratory infections is associated with severe asthma and results in greater limitation in airflow.