The complete project (submitted for a Wellcome Trut Intermediate Clinical Fellowship) includes an international collaboration with other birth and adult cohorts. This outline refers to the analysis that will be carried out with Alspac data.

AIMS

The purpose of this research is to describe the magnitude of inequalities in asthma phenotypes throughout the life course, identify the mechanisms that underlie them and thus provide means of reducing the burden of disease, both overall and in terms of contributing to avoidable health inequalities, due to this condition. The specific aims are:

1) Describe the socioeconomic inequalities in wheezing, asthma phenotypes, atopic makers, lung function and bronchial responsiveness in childhood and/or adolescence in Alspac.

2) Describe the life course socioeconomic inequalities in asthma phenotypes across generations: parents and offspring.

3) To determine the major causes of different socioeconomic patterns in asthma phenotypes identified in objectives 1 and 2.

4) Invetigate the role of health selection in asthma inequalities: determine whether asthma phenotypes influence socioeconomic position in children (schooling)

5) Investigate the role of health services role in asthma inequalities in children.