NHLBI TOPMed: Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP)

The overall goal of the Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP) is to identify and characterize subjects with severe asthma to understand pathophysiologic mechanisms in severe asthma. Subjects with mild and moderate asthma were recruited for comparison but the program was enriched for subjects with severe asthma from multiple centers. Subjects were comprehensively phenotyped for asthma related traits including lung function, atopy, questionnaires on medical and family history, exhaled nitric oxide and health care utilization including exacerbations and symptoms. Asthma is a heterogenous disease. Cluster analysis in SARP has shown multiple subphenotypes and endotypes.]]>
TOPMed Whole Genome Sequencing Methods: Freeze 9TOPMed Whole Genome Sequencing Methods: Freeze 10Inclusion Criteria: Cases: Physician diagnosis of asthma, age 6-80, no current smokers (less than 5-10 pack years depending on age), FEV1 bronchial reversibility (≥12%) or airway hyperresponsiveness (PC20≤16mg/ml) Exclusion Criteria: Other respiratory diseases (for example: CF or COPD), premature birth before 35 weeks gestation, clinically relevant or untreated gastroesophageal reflux, recurrent sinopulmonary infections or obstructive sleep apnea, cancer diagnosis in the past 5 years.]]>
SARP was conducted in 3 phases: SARP1, SARP2 and SARP3. The first 2 phases were cross-sectional (n~1200) with emphasis on in-depth patient characterization. SARP3 (n~700) is a well characterized cohort of asthmatics who had a systemic corticosteroid induced phenotype and is being followed for 3 years.]]>