Respiratory Health and Lung Function in Asia: A Scoping Review

For people residing in or from South Asia, lung function is lowest compared to all other geographic regions of the globe. While the commonly accepted explanation for this health disparity is often attributed to genetics, there are several understudied determinants of lung health such as environmental and occupational exposures. Our scoping review is intended to explore respiratory health in this region to further understand this disparity.  

Our review is novel as we utilize the Symptom Science Model (SSM) from the nursing discipline to synthesize findings of respiratory symptoms, phenotypes, biomarkers, and clinical interventions. The review and its accompanying matrix synthesizing findings from individual studies is relevant to inform future environmental health research; as well as for clinical readers interested in developing life enhancing treatments in the future.