World's top scientists in Auckland to celebrate twenty-year study

International gurus of asthma and allergy research arrive in New Zealand later this month to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the world’s largest collaborative study undertaken with children.

The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) was established in 1991 with University of Auckland researchers at the helm.

ISAAC now involves more than 100 countries and nearly two million children, with the aim of developing environmental measures and disease monitoring to reduce the burden of asthma rhinitis and eczema.

The University of Auckland is hosting the ISAAC symposium at the Fisher & Paykel Appliances Auditorium in The University of Auckland Owen G Glenn Building. Tariana Turia, Maori Party co-leader and the Associate Minister of Health, will open the event and researchers involved in the study, who are all world-leaders in their fields, will be speaking.

Professor Innes Asher, ISAAC Chair and Head of Paediatrics at the University, says asthma and allergies are common and serious problems for New Zealanders.

“One in four New Zealand children and adults has asthma symptoms. Māori and Pacific people are disproportionately affected by asthma and access to medical care may be a key factor in these disparities,” says Professor Asher. One in six primary school aged children have symptoms of eczema, of whom 12% have severe symptoms. It is important that families have enough money to afford the necessary treatments. About one in 6 children suffer from allergic nose and eye symptoms, with hayfever being common.

“The ISAAC study is unique in its enormous scope, and the range of environmental factors being studied, and that gives us the advantage of discovering so much more about these illnesses which affect so many of us,” she says.

Researchers from Europe, the Pacific, Australia, Latin America and New Zealand will cover a range of topics from asthma in Pacific and Māori children, climate change and respiratory health, and how farm living can effect asthma and allergy.

Notes
For more information on the conference and speakers visit:
http://isaac.auckland.ac.nz/news/symposium2011.html