Molecular and environmental basis for asthma in a changing climate

The overall aim is to assess the impact of environmental and lifestyle exposures influenced by climate change on the etiology and prognosis of asthma and its subtypes.

Project information

Project duration

-

Funded by

Multiple sources (Focus area spearhead projects)

Project coordinator

University of Oulu

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Contact person

Project description

The overall aim is to assess the impact of environmental and lifestyle exposures influenced by climate change on the etiology and prognosis of asthma and its subtypes. The specific objectives are: 1) To identify subtypes of asthma; 2) To assess the effects of exposures to ambient air pollution, allergenic pollen, weather and indoor air pollution on the onset of adult asthma and its subtypes; 3) To assess the determinants of the prognosis of asthma; 4) To identify populations susceptible to the effects of environmental exposures; 5) To elaborate on potential causal pathways of the effects of environmental exposures on asthma; 6) To assess the effects of climate, weather and air pollution on mortality from respiratory causes, including asthma and COPD and to make projections of temperature-related excess mortality under climate change scenarios.

Main studies: 1) the Finnish population-based case-control study of incident asthma in adulthood, the FEAS study, 2) the Espoo Cohort Study (ECS) of children studied in the early 1990s, with a nested case-control design for studying adult asthma 20 years later, 3) the Northern Finnish Asthma Study (NoFAS), a population-based study of adults with asthma; and 4) Multi-Country Multi-City study of 100 million deaths in 31 countries.

Selected publications:

Jaakkola JJK, Jaakkola N, Piipari R, Jaakkola MS. Pets, parental atopy, and asthma in adults. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2002; 109: 784-788. https://doi.org/10.1067/mai.2002.123870. IF 11.003

Gilmour MI, Jaakkola MS, London SJ, Nel AE, Rogers CA. How exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, outdoor air pollutants, and increased pollen burdens influences the incidence of asthma. Environ Health Perspect 2006; 114: 627-633. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.8380. IF 7.036

Jaakkola MS, Ieromnimon A, Jaakkola JJK. Are atopy and specific IgE to mites and molds important for adult asthma? J Allergy Clin Immunol 2006; 117: 642-648. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2005.11.003. IF 11.003

Lajunen TK, Jaakkola JJK, Jaakkola MS. Influence of heredity on asthma continues into adulthood. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Mar;131(3):916-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2012.10.035. IF 12.047

Paaso E, Jaakkola MS, Lajunen TK, Hugg TT, Jaakkola JJK. The importance of family history in asthma during the first 27 years of life. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2013 Sep 1;188(5):624-6. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201212-2236LE. IF 11.986

Lajunen TK, Jaakkola JJ, Jaakkola MS. The synergistic effect of heredity and exposure to second-hand smoke on adult-onset asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013 Oct 1;188(7):776-82. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201304-0773OC. IF 11.986

Hjort J, Hugg TT, Antikainen H, Rusanen J, Sofiev M, Kukkonen J, Jaakkola MS, Jaakkola JJK. Fine-scale exposure to allergenic pollen in the urban environment: evaluation of land use regression approach. Environ Health Perspect. 2016 May;124(5):619-26. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1509761.

Gasparrini A, Guo Y, Sera F, Vicedo-Cabrera AM, Huber V, Tong S, de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho M, Paulo Hilario Nascimento Saldiva, Lavigne E, Matus Correa P, Valdes Ortega N, Kan H, Osorio S, Kyselý J, Urban A, Jaakkola JJK, Ryti NRI, Pascal M, Goodman PG, Zeka A, Michelozzi P, Scortichini M, Hashizume M, Honda Y, Hurtado-Diaz M, Cruz JC, Seposo X, Kim H, Tobias A, Iñiguez C, Forsberg B, Åström DO, Ragettli MS, Guo YL, Wu CF, Zanobetti A, Schwartz J, Bell ML, Dang TN, Van Dung D, Heaviside C, Vardoulakis S, Hajat S, Haines A, Armstrong B. Projections of temperature-related excess mortality under climate change scenarios. Lancet Planet Health. 2017 Dec;1(9):e360-e367. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30156-0

Lajunen TK, Jaakkola JJK, Jaakkola MS. Interleukin 6 polymorphisms modify the effects of smoking on the risk of adult asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2018;141(2);799–802.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2017.09.011. IF 11.248

Liu C, Chen R, Sera F, Vicedo-Cabrera A, Guo Y, Tong S, de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho M, Hilario P Saldiva N, Lavigne E, Matus Correa P, Valdes Ortega N, Osorio Garcia S, Pascal M, Stafoggia M, Scortichini M, Hashizume M, Honda Y, Hurtado M, Cruz J, Nunes B, Teixeira JP, Kim H, Tobias A, Íñiguez C, Forsberg B, Åström C, Ragettli MS, Guo YLL, Chen BY, Bell ML, Wright CY, Scovronick N, Garland R, Milojevic A, Kyselý J, Urban A, OrruAaron H, Indermitte E, Jaakkola JJK, Ryti NRI, Zanobetti A, Schwartz J, Cohen A, Gasparrini A, Kan H. Ambient particulate air pollution and daily mortality in 652 cities. N Engl J Med 2019; 381:705-715. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1817364. IF 2018 70.670

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