The 1968 Asthma Survey

 Way back in 1967, Penguin Lions ran a doorknock in the town to raise money for an Asthma survey. The club raised $1,100 which was a significant amount of money at the time. A couple of our older members recall knocking all the doors in town.

The money has been used to fund a long term study into asthma. All 8,500 children born in Tasmania in 1961 were the subject of studies conducted in 1968 (age 7), 1974 (age 13), 1992 (age 32) and 2004 (age 43).

Recently, the Penguin club was visited by Prof Haydn Walters from the University of Tasmania and Cathy Beswick, CEO of Asthma Foundation of Tasmania. Prof Walters spoke of the outcomes of the study, and made us aware just how significant the results of this study are now considered to be.

Some of the findings:

• The original 1968 TAHS study showed that 16 per cent of children suffered from asthma or wheezy breathing. At the time of the 1992 follow-up study when the participants were 32 years, 75 per cent of those who had asthma at seven years old no longer had it, but one in ten had developed asthma as an adult.
• Factors that seem to predict asthma as an adult include having a history of eczema, low lung volumes, a parent with a history of asthma, asthma during childhood and being female.
• Interestingly, many of the findings suggest that gender plays a large role. Asthma is more common in boys than girls, but it is more common in women than men.
• Having children, contraceptive use, hormonal changes and greater exposure to indoor environment risk factors as a result of the prominent role that women play in household work are some of the factors that have been incriminated for this reversal or risk in males versus females.

 This study is now a world wide reference for asthma. Penguin Lions are delighted that a fundraising project so many years ago is still producing such excellent results.

The study has involved a number of organisations, including the University of Tasmania, the Menzies Centre, Monash University, Melbourne University - the list goes on....

The next phase planned is a study of the siblings of the original candidates.

A one page summary of the study (48kb PDF file, requires Adobe Reader)

The next phase of the study (52 kb PDF file, requires Adobe Reader)

Menzies Centre - future of the study

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