Aims

The first aim of the IMCA II is to extend the work on indicators already carried out by the IMCA I project by collecting or using already available data and producing reports/papers on all groups of indicators recommended by the project (mortality, prevalence, risk factors, clinical management/health services and outcomes). This work will qualitatively and quantitatively improve the current level of information on COPD and asthma in the EU and will provide relevant information, based on the scientific evidence, necessary for clinical and health care policy decision making at all levels of health care administration.

The second aim is to extend the work of IMCA I project by developing a module of COPD and asthma to be incorporated to health examination surveys and testing its feasibility and pilot performance in five selected small geographical areas of Spain, Italy (2 areas), Sweden and Germany. More specifically, the module will test the feasibility and potential added value of using an ICT application for the realization of Health Examination Surveys in Europe. The HES feasibility study will check the remote ICT enhanced transmission of data at international level (i.e. questionnaires and measurements made with participants to a survey). This work will provide new instruments to collect all relevant information required to estimate all indicators recommended by the IMCA I project. This new module on respiratory diseases will solve the methodological problems identified by the IMCA project in the past and current instruments and measurements used in most studies.

The third aim of the project is to estimate the prevalence of asthma and COPD in the elderly population by implementing in the five selected sites a Respiratory Health Survey in the Elderly (RHSE). This RHSE will use the ICT application tested previously and put a specific emphasis on those indicators recommended by the IMCA I project that routine data indicators or existing international research studies cannot easily provide so far.