The Isle of Wight Birth Cohort
 Children
born on the Isle of Wight between 1st January 1989 and 28th February
1990 were recruited at birth to allow the monitoring of the natural
history of asthma and allergies. The children were followed up at one,
two, four, 10 and 18 years of age.
A huge amount of data was recorded on
the prevalence of asthma, eczema, rhinitis and food allergies. Findings
have been presented at American Thoracic Society, British Thoracic Society, European Respiratory
Society, and European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
meetings. A large number of publications have already resulted
from the follow-up of this cohort.
Collaboration has been set up between
The David Hide Centre, Michigan University and South Carolina
University to investigate candidate genes thought to mediate allergic
inflammation. A multidisciplinary research team with expertise in
genetics, epidemiology, clinical medicine (allergy and immunology) and
biostatistics put in a successful application to the American National
Institute of Health (NIH) to follow-up the birth cohort at 18 years
of age.
At 18 years, 90% (1,313) of the original
cohort were contacted and, at the very least, completed a
comprehensive questionnaire on asthma, allergies, family history,
environmental and lifestyle factors. Those who were able to visit the
Centre were also skin prick tested and provided a blood or saliva
sample for DNA to study polymorphism in Leptin and Leptin receptor
genes. Participants were recalled for bronchial
challenge and a proportion were be invited to undergo sputum induction
for characterisation of inflammatory cell types.
Significant changes in asthma characteristics during
adolescence were identified and the factors that drive these changes
are to be investigated.
The risk of persistence and new onset of asthma during
adolescence and the factors underlying these events (linked to the
Birth Cohort)
A grant was awarded by the British
Medical Association to use information gathered from questionnaires
completed by the Birth cohort to identify those whose asthma persisted
over the teenage years and also those teenagers who developed new onset
asthma.
Genome-wide SNP Scans in Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis
(linked to the Birth Cohort)
The research team at The David Hide
Centre are in collaboration with a research group at Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital Medical Center who are carrying out genetic studies
into asthma and cystic fibrosis. A genome-wide SNP scan in asthma was
conducted in samples from the birth cohort, 178 from those with asthma
and 534 controls. The findings from this research have been
published in ‘Nature’.
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