Epi-Asthma

It is a population-based nationwide cross-sectional study, that aims to provide epidemiological data by identifying chronic respiratory conditions within a national sample using a multicentre stepwise approach.Aim of the project: The aim of this project is to determine the prevalence of Asthma and Severe Asthma in Portugal and to characterise Asthmatic patients according to its demographics, clinical characteristics, pathological characteristics, comorbidities, treatment patterns, clinical outcomes and care costs. A collaborative project between ICVS, CINTESIS (FMUP) and AstraZeneca.
This study was implemented in 38 primary health care practices of the Portuguese National Health Service. 36,934 participants were invited to participate through randomly selected phone calls (n= 22,075 / 12,520 accepted). Screening phone interview assessing respiratory symptoms included 7,556 persons. Diagnostic visit with physical examination, diagnostic tests, and patient-reported outcome measures was performed in 1,857 patients. Follow-up of patients with asthma after 3 months based on electronic health record review and a phone interview included 457 persons with asthma.
Data collection was concluded in the first trimester of 2024 and is being processed for publication. The first articles will be submitted in 2024.

Funding Agency

Project Reference

Project Members

Main Project Outcomes

S. Queirós, “Right ventricular segmentation in multi-view cardiac MRI using a unified U-net model”, in E. Puyol Antón et al. (eds) Statistical Atlases and Computational Models of the Heart. Multi-Disease, Multi-View, and Multi-Center Right Ventricular Segmentation in Cardiac MRI Challenge. STACOM 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13131, pp. 287-295, Springer, Cham, 2022.

“Best Paper Award in the M&Ms-2 Challenge”, by M&Ms2 Challenge organizers and the Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) Society.

Main Project Outcomes

Jácome C, Brito D, João C, Lopes F, Santos J, Amorim L, Barbosa MJ, Pardal M, Teixeira P, Bernardo F, Fonseca JA, Correia-de-Sousa J. EPI-ASTHMA study protocol: a population-based multicentre stepwise study on the prevalence and characterisation of patients with asthma according to disease severity in Portugal. BMJ Open. 2022 Sep 19;12(9):e064538. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-064538. PMID: 36123070; PMCID: PMC9486331.

João C, Jácome C, Brito D, Teixeira P, Quelhas-Santos J, Amorim L, Barbosa MJ, Bulhões C, Lopes F, Pardal M, Bernardo F, Fonseca JA, Correia de Sousa J. Prevalence and Characterisation of Patients with Asthma According to Disease Severity in Portugal: Findings from the EPI-ASTHMA Pilot Study. J Asthma Allergy. 2022 Oct 19;15:1441-1453. doi: 10.2147/JAA.S381716. PMID: 36303890; PMCID: PMC9594360.