Current Approaches and Recent Advances in the Genetic Epidemiology of Acute Lung Injury/Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

I. Introduction Acute∗ lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) is a devastating form of respiratory failure characterized by intense inflammation and increased permeability in the lungs that usually develops in response to a major insult such as sepsis, trauma, pneumonia, burns, and multiple transfusions (1). In the United States, ALI/ARDS is now recognized to be more prevalent than initially thought with an age-adjusted incidence of 86.2/100,000 person-years with a mortality of 38.5% and significant morbidity among the survivors (2).