CI lead: Professor Shyamali Dharmage, Allergy and Lung Function Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Team members: Dr Jingwen Zhang, Dr Zhoufeng Ye, A/Professor Shuai Li
Awarded: $40,000 in GERA’s Grant Round 1 (2025)
About the project: Using family data from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS), this project aims to: 1) identify causal risk factors for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); and 2) investigate the causal relationships between asthma and middle-age lung function and COPD. The findings will be validated using UK Biobank data.
Asthma affects one in nine Australians, with an estimated economic burden of $28 billion, but its underlying aetiology remains incompletely understood, with current evidence primarily based on observational studies, limiting the development and implementation of effective asthma prevention strategies.
On the other hand, asthma is a potential risk factor of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), the 4th leading cause of disease burden in Australia and worldwide. COPD was thought to be a smoker’s disease, but recent evidence from observational studies shows that multiple risk factors, including asthma, are also associated with lung function decline and the subsequent development of COPD. Further research is needed to decompose these associations and to inform COPD preventive strategies.
This project aims to address these critical knowledge gaps by employing advanced causal inference methods to explore potential causal associations between asthma, COPD, and their risk factors. By doing so, we seek to provide a more robust evidence base for targeted prevention and management strategies for both conditions
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