The Genomic Basis of
Asthma

It is estimated that in Ireland 470,000 people have asthma making Ireland the fourth highest prevalence for asthma in the world. Symptom severity and response to treatment vary significantly from person to person. In Ireland, asthma accounts for approximately 20,000 emergency department attendances and 5,000 hospital admissions per year1. This genomics study will develop a comprehensive research resource on asthma that may have the ability to identify differences and similarities between disease mechanism in participants with asthma or Asthma COPD Overlap (ACO). People with severe asthma or ACO are a particularly challenging asthma subsets who tend to experience more serious health impacts such as poor lung function, reduced exercise tolerance, increased exacerbation rates, hospitalisation, and increased mortality.

This study aims to research how genes, environment and lifestyle influence disease risk, disease subtype, disease progression and response to treatment. Enhancing our knowledge will accelerate the development of novel therapeutics and strategies, ultimately resulting in better treatments available to patients such as those with severe asthma and ACO.

Aims of the Genuity Science Asthma Study

• to understand why some people develop asthma and others do not
• to determine why some people develop non-severe asthma while others developed severe asthma uncontrolled by existing medications 
• to identify significant lifestyle or environmental triggers among those with the disease
• to identify genetic markers that will help with the early diagnosis of asthma, identify people at risk of more severe forms, and through our partnerships, identify new or more effective treatments for people with severe asthma.