International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC): o que nos ensinou? The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC): what have we learned?

Knowledge of asthma prevalence has beenincreased greatly, especially in the last decade,through the development of two internationalcollaborative studies: the International Study ofAsthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) forchildren and adolescents; and the EuropeanCommunity Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) foradults. These studies were created as a responseto the need for reliable data, obtained byreproducible methods and capable of providingcategorical evidence of the increased prevalenceof asthma and allergic diseases, which wasfrequently reported in the early 1990s.The ISAAC was designed to maximize the value ofepidemiological studies of asthma and allergic diseases,establishing a standardized methodology in order tofacilitate the international collaboration. This studyhad the following specific objectives: a) to describethe prevalence and severity of asthma, rhinitis andeczema among children living in various locations andto draw comparisons among countries and amonglocations within specific countries; b) obtain baselinevalues in order to assess future tendencies in theprevalence and severity of these diseases; c) provide astructure for further etiologic studies into genetics,lifestyle, medical care and environmental factors thatmay affect these diseases