Previous edito Novembre 96

 Asthma Research in Brazil
EDITORIAL FOR ASMANET -30/11/96
Dr. José Roberto Lapa e Silva, M.D. Ph.D. (jrlapa (at) omega.lncc.br)
Associate Professor of Medicine, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(partial) translation : | Français/French |  :-)

Research in Brazil has experienced a steady increase over the last 15 years. Using the tools of scientometrics, it is possible to see that in 1981 Brazilian science contributed with 0.28% of articles appearing on periodicals indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information. In 1993, this contribution had more than doubled to 0.57% (1) and there are indications that it will approach 1% by the end of 1996 (de Meis, personal communication). These figures are too small when compared with the contributions of the United States (30%), United Kingdom (15%) or France (15%), but it is enough to put Brazil on the "Top 20" league of world countries that contribute more to science.  

This remarkable progress of Brazilian research also involved many areas of Medicine. In a recently concluded survey on research groups working in Brazil (2), 657 (9.16%) of 7.271 groups identified Medicine as their major area of interest, and of those, 5.6%, or 37 groups are involved in studies of several aspects of asthma.  

Asthma research in Brazil and probably in South America is mainly focussed on clinical aspects of the disease. The important areas of epidemiology and pathogenesis have been neglected. Apart from a few well stablished and connected groups that participate in international research efforts, including the Global Initiative for Asthma and ISAAC, the large majority of groups and individuals draw conclusions from observations in their clinical practice. This is transparent when we analyse the nature of free communications presented at the two major scientific events from professional societies dealing with asthma, the Brazilian Thoracic Society and the Brazilian Society of Allergy and Immunopathology, both on the second half of 1996. Of the 712 free communications presented, 92 (12.9%) were asthma-related and from those, 84.8% were clinical studies, 9.8% epidemiologic observations and only 5.4% addressed pathogenesis aspects. For comparison, of roughly 4,000 free communications presented at the 1996 International Conference of the American Thoracic Society, around 400 were about asthma and 50% analyzed aspects of asthma pathogenesis.  

Several asthma research groups in Brazil and South America are now trying to change this pattern by organizing themselves into research networks, with the help of the European Union and the partnership of established groups in Europe. These networks willl address aspects of epidemiology and pathogenesis of asthma. The first proposal was presented to the DGXII of the European Union for funding, and will investigate the prevalence of asthma in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The second network will investigate inflammatory markers in the sputum of asthmatic patients in order to predict outcome.  

We welcome collaborations with colleagues from other countries. The recent creation of the Latin American Thoracic Society will greatly facilitate collaboration not only among its members but also between asthmologists of different continents.  

References  

1- de Meis L, Leta J. The Profile of Brazilian Science, Editora UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, pp. 1-103, 1996.  

2- Brazilian Research Council. Directory of Reseach Groups in Brasil, 1996. (available at http://www.cnpq.br/gpesq2/)  

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Date de création: December 1996- Dernière mise à jour: 29/09/99
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