Fig. 1

Course of the study: From the 19,849 participants (11–12 years) in Survey 1, a random sample of 3982 adolescents (15–17 years) participated in Survey 2. All (n = 297) subjects from the 3982 sample, who reported wheezing in the last 12 months were invited to participate as cases. A sample of 932 children with no diagnosis of asthma and no wheezing in the past 12 months were invited to participate as controls