RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Cross-sectional associations between air pollution and chronic bronchitis: an ESCAPE meta-analysis across five cohorts JF Thorax JO Thorax FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Thoracic Society SP 1005 OP 1014 DO 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2013-204352 VO 69 IS 11 A1 Yutong Cai A1 Tamara Schikowski A1 Martin Adam A1 Anna Buschka A1 Anne-Elie Carsin A1 Benedicte Jacquemin A1 Alessandro Marcon A1 Margaux Sanchez A1 Andrea Vierkötter A1 Zaina Al-Kanaani A1 Rob Beelen A1 Matthias Birk A1 Bert Brunekreef A1 Marta Cirach A1 Françoise Clavel-Chapelon A1 Christophe Declercq A1 Kees de Hoogh A1 Audrey de Nazelle A1 Regina E Ducret-Stich A1 Virginia Valeria Ferretti A1 Bertil Forsberg A1 Margaret W Gerbase A1 Rebecca Hardy A1 Joachim Heinrich A1 Gerard Hoek A1 Debbie Jarvis A1 Dirk Keidel A1 Diana Kuh A1 Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen A1 Martina S Ragettli A1 Andrea Ranzi A1 Thierry Rochat A1 Christian Schindler A1 Dorothea Sugiri A1 Sofia Temam A1 Ming-Yi Tsai A1 Raphaëlle Varraso A1 Francine Kauffmann A1 Ursula Krämer A1 Jordi Sunyer A1 Nino Künzli A1 Nicole Probst-Hensch A1 Anna L Hansell YR 2014 UL http://thorax.bmj.com/content/69/11/1005.abstract AB Background This study aimed to assess associations of outdoor air pollution on prevalence of chronic bronchitis symptoms in adults in five cohort studies (Asthma-E3N, ECRHS, NSHD, SALIA, SAPALDIA) participating in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE) project. Methods Annual average particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PMabsorbance, PMcoarse), NO2, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and road traffic measures modelled from ESCAPE measurement campaigns 2008–2011 were assigned to home address at most recent assessments (1998–2011). Symptoms examined were chronic bronchitis (cough and phlegm for ≥3 months of the year for ≥2 years), chronic cough (with/without phlegm) and chronic phlegm (with/without cough). Cohort-specific cross-sectional multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted using common confounder sets (age, sex, smoking, interview season, education), followed by meta-analysis. Results 15 279 and 10 537 participants respectively were included in the main NO2 and PM analyses at assessments in 1998–2011. Overall, there were no statistically significant associations with any air pollutant or traffic exposure. Sensitivity analyses including in asthmatics only, females only or using back-extrapolated NO2 and PM10 for assessments in 1985–2002 (ECRHS, NSHD, SALIA, SAPALDIA) did not alter conclusions. In never-smokers, all associations were positive, but reached statistical significance only for chronic phlegm with PMcoarse OR 1.31 (1.05 to 1.64) per 5 µg/m3 increase and PM10 with similar effect size. Sensitivity analyses of older cohorts showed increased risk of chronic cough with PM2.5abs (black carbon) exposures. Conclusions Results do not show consistent associations between chronic bronchitis symptoms and current traffic-related air pollution in adult European populations.