@article {Uphoff00150-2016, author = {Eleonora P. Uphoff and Philippa K. Bird and Joseph Maria Ant{\'o} and Mikel Basterrechea and Andrea von Berg and Anna Bergstr{\"o}m and Jean Bousquet and Leda Chatzi and Maria Pia Fantini and Amparo Ferrero and Ulrike Gehring and Davide Gori and Joachim Heinrich and Thomas Keil and Inger Kull and Susanne Lau and Dieter Maier and Isabelle Momas and Silvia Narduzzi and Daniela Porta and Fanny Ranciere and Theano Roumeliotaki and Tamara Schikowski and Henriette A. Smit and Marie Standl and Jordi Sunyer and John Wright}, title = {Variations in the prevalence of childhood asthma and wheeze in MeDALL cohorts in Europe}, volume = {3}, number = {3}, elocation-id = {00150-2016}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.1183/23120541.00150-2016}, publisher = {European Respiratory Society}, abstract = {While there is evidence for variations in prevalence rates of childhood wheeze and asthma between countries, longitudinal, individual-level data are needed to understand these differences. The aim of this study was to examine variations in prevalence rates of childhood asthma, wheeze and wheeze with asthma in Europe.We analysed datasets from 10 MeDALL (Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy) cohorts in eight countries, representing 26 663 children, to calculate prevalence rates of wheeze and asthma by child age and wheeze with asthma at age 4 years. Harmonised variables included outcomes parent-reported wheeze and parent-reported doctor-diagnosed asthma, and covariates maternal education, parental smoking, pets, parental asthma, doctor-diagnosed allergic rhinitis, doctor-diagnosed eczema and wheeze severity.At age 4 years, asthma prevalence varied from 1.72\% in Germany to 13.48\% in England and the prevalence of wheeze varied from 9.82\% in Greece to 55.37\% in Spain. Adjusted estimates of the proportion of 4-year-old children with wheeze diagnosed with asthma remained highest in England (38.14\%, 95\% CI 31.38{\textendash}44.90\%) and lowest in Spain (15.94\%, 95\% CI 6.16{\textendash}25.71\%).The large differences in prevalence rates of asthma, wheeze and wheeze with asthma at age 4 years between European cohorts may indicate that childhood asthma is more readily diagnosed in some countries while going unrecognised elsewhere.Large variations in childhood wheeze across Europe do not match large variations in diagnosed childhood asthma http://ow.ly/eJQk30aPInr}, URL = {https://openres.ersjournals.com/content/3/3/00150-2016}, eprint = {https://openres.ersjournals.com/content/3/3/00150-2016.full.pdf}, journal = {ERJ Open Research} }