Trends in the prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in Italy between 1991 and 2010

The prevalence of asthma increased worldwide until the 1990s, but since then there has been no clear temporal pattern. The present study aimed to assess time trends in the prevalence of current asthma, asthma-like symptoms and allergic rhinitis in Italian adults from 1990 to 2010. The same screening questionnaire was administered by mail or phone to random samples of the general population (age 20-44 yrs) in Italy, in the frame of three multicentre studies: the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) (1991-1993; n=6,031); the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults (ISAYA) (1998-2000; n=18,873); and the Gene Environment Interactions in Respiratory Diseases (GEIRD) study (2007-2…