Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

For unknown reasons, the prevalence and severity of childhood asthma are increasing. Urbanization, lifestyle changes, and higher exposure to certain environmental agents are thought to play a role. Despite recent asthma trends, studies have reported a lower rate of occurrence among rural children, especially those living on farms compared to urban children. However, recent studies have suggested that rural children are more likely to report more severe asthma than urban children and that farming exposures are associated with worse lung health outcomes among those with asthma. As such, additional research is needed to identify the role of environmental exposures in rural areas in relation to lung health outcomes, an understudied area. I will investigate agricultural exposures and diagnostic patterns in relation to asthma severity and phenotypic expression among children from a large urban, small urban, and rural area in Saskatchewan. The study will specifically answer the following questions: 1) Are there differences in asthma diagnostic patterns between rural and urban children? 2) Are there variations in asthma phenotypes between rural and urban children and do agricultural exposures contribute to these differences? 3) Are there variations in asthma severity between rural and urban children and do agricultural exposures contribute to these differences? Data collection for the study will include an asthma validation phase and an objective environmental and biological assessment phase. Results from the study will help describe the differences in asthma phenotypic expression and asthma severity between urban and rural settings, and further enhance knowledge on the role of agricultural-farming environment in the etiology of asthma. The results will also help to identify which groups of children are at increased risk of poor lung health outcomes and will be a helpful tool for planning asthma care in children, particularly those living in rural Canada.