The sponsors of the study had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of publications.

BOLD I​I

The BOLD II study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MR/R011192/1), which supported the London, UK, Co-ordinating Centre as well as the local BOLD sites. The pilot study was supported by a Wellcome Trust Centre for Global Health Research Seed Grant.

BOLD I

The BOLD I Study was funded by a grant from The Wellcome Trust (085790/Z/08/Z), which supported the London, UK, Co-ordinating Centre.

The initial BOLD program was funded in part by unrestricted educational grants to the Co-Ordinating Centre in Portland, USA, from Aventis, AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Sepracor and University of Kentucky.

We are thankful to Georg Harnoncourt of the ndd Corporation and Paul Enright for their assistance with spirometry training and quality control during the BOLD I study.

Additional local support for BOLD sites in the baseline study was provided by: Boehringer Ingelheim China (GuangZhou, China); Turkish Thoracic Society, Boehringer-Ingelheim, and Pfizer (Adana, Turkey); Altana, Astra-Zeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, Novartis,  Salzburger Gebietskrankenkasse and Salzburg Local Government (Salzburg, Austria); Research for International Tobacco Control, the International Development Research Centre, the South African Medical Research Council, the South African Thoracic Society GlaxoSmithKline Pulmonary Research Fellowship, and the University of Cape Town Lung Institute (Cape Town, South Africa); and Landspítali-University Hospital-Scientific Fund, GlaxoSmithKline Iceland, and AstraZeneca Iceland (Reykjavik, Iceland); GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Polpharma, Ivax Pharma Poland, AstraZeneca Pharma Poland, ZF Altana Pharma, Pliva Kraków, Adamed, Novartis Poland, Linde Gaz Polska, Lek Polska, Tarchomińskie Zakłady Farmaceutyczne Polfa, Starostwo Proszowice, Skanska, Zasada, Agencja Mienia Wojskowego w Krakowie, Telekomunikacja Polska, Biernacki, Biogran, Amplus Bucki, Skrzydlewski, Sotwin, and Agroplon (Krakow, Poland); Boehringer-Ingelheim, and Pfizer Germany (Hannover, Germany); the Norwegian Ministry of Health’s Foundation for Clinical Research, and Haukeland University Hospital’s Medical Research Foundation for Thoracic Medicine  (Bergen, Norway); AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline (Vancouver, Canada); Marty Driesler Cancer Project (Lexington, Kentucky, USA); Altana, Boehringer Ingelheim (Phil), GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Philippine College of Chest Physicians, Philippine College of Physicians, and United Laboratories (Phil) (Manila, Philippines); Air Liquide Healthcare P/L, AstraZeneca P/L, Boehringer Ingelheim P/L, GlaxoSmithKline Australia P/L, Pfizer Australia P/L (Sydney, Australia), Department of Health Policy Research Programme, Clement Clarke International (London, United Kingdom); Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer (Lisbon, Portugal), Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation, The Swedish Association against Heart and Lung Diseases, Glaxo Smith Kline (Uppsala, Sweden); GlaxoSmithKline, Astra Zeneca, Eesti Teadusfond (Estonian Science Foundation) (Tartu, Estonia); AstraZeneca, CIRO HORN (Maastricht, The Netherlands); Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, J&K (Srinagar, India); Foundation for Environmental Medicine, Kasturba Hospital, Volkart Foundation (Mumbai, India); Boehringer Ingelheim (Sousse, Tunisia); Boehringer Ingelheim (Fes, Morocco); Philippines College of Physicians, Philippines College of Chest Physicians, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Orient Euro Pharma, Otsuka Pharma, United laboratories Phillipines (Nampicuan & Talugtug, Philippines); National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London (Pune, India); The Wellcome Trust, National Population Commission, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria (Ile-Ife, Nigeria); Kyrgyz Thoracic Society (Chui and Naryn, Kyrgyzstan); GlaxoSmithKline (Tirana, Albania); GSK, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust (Blantyre, Malawi); The Saudi Thoracic Society, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center KAIMRC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia); Salmawit Pharmaceuticals & Medical International Company Limited, The Epidemiological Laboratory (Khartoum, Sudan); Boehringer Ingelheim (Annaba, Algeria); GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Sdn. Bhd. (Penang, Malaysia).