Welcome to the Respiratory Epidemiology Group website. We are an interdisciplinary group of investigators who study the epidemiology and health outcomes of pulmonary diseases.

Coordinator: Paul D. Blanc, MD, MSPH

Our mission:

• To apply state-of-the-art epidemiologic and biostatistical methods to study health outcomes, in particular disability and impaired quality of life in a broad array of pulmonary diseases.
• To identify risk factors, in particular environmental and occupational factors, for such adverse health outcomes.
• To translate science into policy aimed at reducing the burden of respiratory disease

Our vision:

• To reduce the burden of chronic respiratory disease
• To decrease suffering, lost years of good quality of life, and death from pulmonary disease

Our areas of research include:

• Development of worsened impairment, disability, and deficits in quality of life- in COPD
• Health outcomes in over a range of asthma severity
• Impact of environmental exposures, including secondhand smoke exposure and air pollution, on patients with obstructive lung disease
• Health care costs of lung disease
• Interaction between occupation and lung disease
  • Effect of occupational exposures on health outcomes
  • Impact of obstructive lung diseases on work disability
• Biomarkers linked to adverse respiratory disease outcomes
• Outcomes, quality of life, and disability in obstructive sleep apnea, in particularin overlap with COPD
• Respiratory and non-respiratory factors in quality of life changes following lung transplantation
• Quality of life and patient perceived health status and medication effects in pulmonary hypertension
• Environmental and occupational factors in hypersensitivity pneumonitis and alveolar proteinosis
• Cognitive function and depression in obstructive lung disease