About the Authors

Ivan Curjuric

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Medea Imboden

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Rachel Nadif

Affiliations INSERM, U1018, CESP Centre for research in Epidemiology and Population Health, Respiratory and Environmental Epidemiology Team, Villejuif, France, Université Paris-Sud 11, UMRS 1018, Villejuif, France

Ashish Kumar

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Christian Schindler

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Margot Haun

Affiliation Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Florian Kronenberg

Affiliation Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Nino Künzli

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Harish Phuleria

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Dirkje S. Postma

Affiliation Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

Erich W. Russi

Affiliation Division of Pulmonary Medicine, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

Thierry Rochat

Affiliation Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

Florence Demenais

Affiliations INSERM, U946, Genetic Variation and Human Diseases Unit, Paris, France, Fondation Jean Dausset - Centre d’Etude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH), Paris, France, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Institut Universitaire d’Hématologie, Paris, France

Nicole M. Probst-Hensch

Nicole.Probst@unibas.ch

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Competing Interests

I have read the journal’s policy and have the following conflicts: The SAPALDIA study was supported by the UBS Wealth Foundation, Talecris Biotherapeutics GmbH, and Abbott Diagnostics in terms of unrestricted grants for personnel and genotyping. The support of these institutions did not influence the scientific work regarding study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript in any way. Also, this does not alter our adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Analyzed the data: IC MI NMPH CS. Wrote the paper: IC NMPH MI. Data collection and study design: NMPH MI CS NK TR. Analysis design: IC MI NMPH CS RN. Critical revision and contribution to interpretation: RN AK MH FK NK HP DSP EWR TR FD.