Environmental risk factors: indoor and outdoor pollution.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airways disease closely associated with atopic diseases like allergic rhinitis that affects adults and children of all ages. Asthma and rhinitis are increasing to epidemic proportions with reduced quality of life for patients, lower productivity, and increasing medical costs. . Rapid urbanization and industrialization have increased the population size of those exposed to air pollution. Meanwhile, the prevalence rates of asthma and allergic diseases have risen in industrialized countries. Thus, it is necessary to perform longitudinal epidemiological studies that will be able to provide reliable data on the evolution of the prevalence, severity and management of these diseases and their association with changes in air pollution.