The European Union is considering the launch of a major research project to establish why childhood asthma is more common in Ireland than in any other European country.
The EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC) announced yesterday that it will hold a high-level conference on the condition in Cork next year, during Ireland's EU Presidency.
The JRC's Cork-born director general, Mr Barry McSweeney, said the event will take the form of a two-day workshop involving more than 30 of Europe's leading asthma experts.
The conference is expected to be a prelude to the launch of a large-scale research project to investigate why childhood asthma is so prevalent in Ireland and Britain. Mr McSweeney said the centre planned to examine a combination of environmental factors and evidence of genetic predisposition. He suggested that a more sophisticated approach to childhood asthma could influence treatment options in the future.
"In Ireland and in many other countries, the response to asthma is reach for the inhaler. Every kind of bronchial problem in children tends to be called asthma."