Common Contracts

License: Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden

August 31st, 2020

• Filed
  August 31st, 2020

In ancient times, asthma was already recognized in many cultures, such as the Chinese, Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek and Roman culture (1). Hippocrates (460-377 BC) was the first to use the term “asthma” which is derived from the Greek word “asthmaino” (αστημαινω) and means “panting”, indicating that any patient with breathlessness was asthmatic (2). In the following centuries, the pathophysiology of asthma and the relationship with en- vironmental factors and lifestyle became clearer. Already in the 12th century, treatment of asthma included rest, avoidance of opium, good personal and environmental hygiene and a healthy diet (3). Asthma now is defined as a heterogeneous disease with different phenotypes with variability in clinical symptoms, etiology and even a different treat- ment (4-6). Obesity is one of the lifestyle-related risk factors for developing asthma, and the so-called “obesity related asthma” is recognized as a distinct phenotype of asthma (7). As obesity has reached epidemic