Respiratory health characteristics of the study population (n=7104)
| ECRHS I | ECRHS II | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | |
| Smoking status | ||||
| Never | 3267 | 46.0 | 3094 | 43.6 |
| Ex | 1569 | 22.1 | 2010 | 28.3 |
| Current | 2265 | 31.9 | 1922 | 27.1 |
| New onset asthma* | 0 | 0.0 | 355 | 5.0 |
| Current asthma attacks | 0 | 0.0 | 98 | 1.4 |
| Current asthma medication | 0 | 0.0 | 81 | 1.2 |
| Nocturnal attacks of shortness of breath | 0 | 0.0 | 254 | 3.6 |
| Parental asthma | 696 | 10.5 | NA | NA |
| Bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR) | 431 | 7.8 | 440 | 9.7 |
| New onset asthma combined with positive BHR† | NA | NA | 56 | 1.4 |
| Positive IgE to Cladosporium herbarum (mould) | 171 | 2.9 | 41 | 0.7 |
| Prick test positivity to Altenaria alternata (mould) | 501 | 8.5 | NA | NA |
| Positive IgE to house dust mite (der p1) | 839 | 14.2 | 756 | 13.6 |
| Positive IgE to cat or timothy grass | 409 | 6.9 | 373 | 6.7 |
| No sensitisation‡ | 4349 | 73.8 | 4161 | 75.0 |
*Current asthma attacks (last 12 months), current asthma medication or nocturnal attacks of shortness of breath (last 12 months).
†Having both new onset asthma and BHR.
‡A positive IgE refers to a specific IgE>0.35 kU/ml to any of cat, timothy grass, house dust mites or moulds.
ECRHS, European Community Respiratory Health Survey; NA, not available.