Project Details
Projekt
SOLAR III: Asthma and allergies from school age up to working life - analyses of occupational exposures and transgenerational effects over three generations. 20-years Follow-up of the ISAAC Phase II Study in Germany.
Subject Area
Epidemiology and Medical Biometry/Statistics
Term
from 2016 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 314488639
The Study on Occupational Allergy Risks (SOLAR) is a population-based, prospective cohort study on asthma and allergies focussing on the impact of occupational exposures. This study was conducted in the participants of Phase II of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC), which in 1995/1996 initially examined elementary school children (9-11 years) in the German cities of Munich and Dresden, among others. This baseline study was succeeded in 2002-03 and 2007-2009 by the 1st and 2nd follow-up SOLAR I und SOLAR II; the participants of this cohort form the G1 generation for the continuation of the study suggested here. The course of asthma and allergies since elementary school was assessed longitudinally in these participants. Information on prenatal risk factors are available for their parents (G0 generation) as well. Since 2009, the children (G2 generation) of the SOLAR II participants are being recruited in a birth cohort study (ACROSSOLAR). Following the participants of the G1 generation until their 4th decade of life, as well as their partners (G1) and their parents (G0) and children (G2), the course of asthma and allergies shall be described across three generations. The influence of occupational as well as environmental exposures will be examined in particular, taking into account epigenetic effects. To achieve these aims, the 3rd follow-up of the G1 generation (aged 30-32 years) and the 1st follow-up of the G2 generation (aged 6-11 years) shall be conducted with the presented proposal. All of the 2.051 SOLAR II participants will be invited to complete a paper questionnaire on work history, environmental exposures and asthma as well as allergies. The 125 participants of the G2 generation and their parents will be surveyed by questionnaire as well; moreover, clinical examinations will be offered to them. Allergy testing, lung function testing and bronchial challenge testing will be performed in the G2 generation, while genome-wide methylation in CD4+ T cells will be examined in the G1 and G2 generations. The results of this investigation will contribute to the comprehension of the longitudinal course of atopic diseases under special consideration of occupational exosures. The inclusion of three generations facilitates a better understanding of epigenetic effects and hence the genesis of atopic diseases. Thus, these studies will be conducive to the prevention of these diseases in the long term.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
