European Union meets the challenge of the growing importance of allergy and asthma in Europe.

Abstract

Allergic diseases and asthma represent one of the mostcommon chronic pathological conditions throughoutthe world (1, 2). They usually start early in infancy orchildhood and often persist throughout life (3). Theyare extremely common in developed countries. It isestimated that 2–15% of the European populationsuffers from asthma, and that, in some countries,allergy may affect over 50% of children. Moreover,the prevalence of allergic diseases and asthma hasactuallyincreasedduringthepastthreetofourdecades.More recently a similar increase has been noted indeveloping countries, and these diseases now representanimportantproblem(4).IntheEuropeanUnion(EU)theprevalenceandseverityofallergicdiseasesincludingasthma present a serious challenge both to health caresystems and to society as a whole. Specific problemsinclude the continuing increase in the prevalence offood allergy, which is a particular concern because itmay be life-threatening, and it has a major impact onpatient’s lives (7). This problem affects mainly children(5, 6) but also an increasing number of adult pollenallergic patients. Occupational allergy is anotherimportant medical and economic problem which isunder recognized and needs a more careful evaluation(1, 8). The interaction between the indoor and outdoorenvironment is critical for the development of thesediseases (9).Allergic diseases and asthma also seriously affect thesocial life of the patients. Asthma is still a leadingconditionofschoolabsenteeismaswellasamajorcauseof work absenteeism (10) but even more importantlygood investigations regarding the impact of allergies oncognitive functions and the reduced performance ineducation and work are hardly available. Finally, directand indirect costs for allergic diseases and asthma havesharplyrisenwithinthepast10years(11–13).Although the use of asthma guidelines has reducedmorbidity and mortality, the burden of asthma is stillhigh and both the knowledge of better treatmentoptions and their implementation need to be improved(1)asdoesthedevelopmentofmoreeffectivepreventivestrategies. Knowledge of the causes of the atopicresponse and of asthma have greatly increased overthe last decade with major advances in our knowledgeof the effects of infection, diet and the environment.There remains, however, a major gap between thisknowledge and the ability to mount effective preventivecampaigns.J.Bousquet