The asthma epidemic and our artificial habitats.

This paper discusses the “artificial habitats notion” as a generalised scheme for the study of asthma. According to this perspective there is no single answer to the asthma epidemic, but different factors have different relevance depending on the population and environment. In addition to being free from the hygiene hypothesis one-dimensional approach, this view is evolutionary driven allowing us to place the asthma epidemic within the wider perspective of increasing discordance between us and our dramatically changing environment . Sedentary lifestyles, static indoor environments, and automation of the food chain are not only predisposing us to obesity and cardiovascular disease but also depriving our respiratory system from many stimuli necessary for the development of normal airway resistance. BMC Pulmonary Medicine 2005; 5:5, 1-7.