Asthma Persistence Research Projects

Our asthma persistence research explores why childhood asthma persists into adulthood in some cases, temporarily remits and recurs in others, or completely resolves during childhood without persisting into adulthood.

Our GALA and SAGE Study Populations, Genetic Research Projects, Social Research Projects, and Environmental Research Projects form the basis for our research below:

The UCSF Asthma Collaboratory is actively investigating why certain children with asthma outgrow their condition while others continue to experience asthma into adulthood. Our goal is to combine genetic, epigenetic, genetic ancestry, and transcriptomic data with clinical, socioeconomic, and environmental information to predict asthma-related outcomes in children, including whether asthma will improve, reappear, or remain during adulthood.

factors of asthma persistence

Clinical, social, environmental, and genetic factors that we will consider as predictors of childhood asthma that resolves during childhood, persists into adulthood, or relapses during adulthood.

To be eligible for inclusion, individuals must meet the following three criteria:

  1. Participated in one of two studies during childhood:

    1. Genes-environments & Admixture in Latino Americans (GALA)

    2. Study of African Americans, Asthma, Genes, & Environments (SAGE)

  2. Diagnosed with asthma by a doctor or other health professional during childhood.

  3. Currently be an adult (age 18 years and older).

We are asking eligible individuals to complete an online questionnaire about their asthma symptoms, asthma medications, general health and other medical conditions, demographics, socioeconomic status, cigarette smoking, and household and living environment. The questionnaire will take about 30 minutes to complete. Individuals who agree to participate will be paid $30 for their time.

We will keep the data we collect confidential, and we will not share personal information with anyone outside the research team.

If you have questions about this study, you can contact the Primary Investigator, Dr. Jonathan Witonsky, by emailing him at [email protected]. If you have questions or concerns about your rights as a research participant, you can call the UCSF Institutional Review Board at 415-476-1814.