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Severe Asthma Research Program
A National Institutes of Health/ National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute sponsored network



SEVERE ASTHMA is a debilitating form of asthma, which afflicts up to 10% of asthma sufferers. It can develop in childhood, often in association with allergies, or come on later in life in relation to respiratory infections, hormonal changes or environmental exposures. Patients with severe asthma typically have the lowest quality of life, the highest risk for morbidity and mortality, and consume the majority of healthcare resources. Unlike "usual" asthma, severe asthma often does not respond well to currently available medications. Thus, the lives of patients with severe asthma are often dramatically impacted by the burden of their disease.

SARP 
is the world’s most comprehensive study of adults and children with severe asthma, linking 7 leading asthma clinical university centers and 1 data coordinating center through a National Institutes of Health-sponsored network. SARP is not a clinical trial  but rather an intensive characterization study of adults and children with asthma. Now in its third phase (SARP III), SARP III has enrolled over 700 participants in its program, including over 500 adults and 180 children aged 6-17 years.

The SARP network’s mission is to improve the understanding of severe asthma in order to develop better treatments. Through SARP, we are gaining insight into how severe asthma develops in patients and learning about the molecular, cellular and biological mechanisms that lead to different types of asthma. Participants enrolled in SARP are being followed over at least three years in order to determine how these characteristics develop or change with time.

Welcome to SARP's home on the web!
www.severeasthma.org