Air pollution and lung cancer incidence in 17 European cohorts: prospective analyses from the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE).

Background: Ambient air pollution is suspected to cause lung cancer. We aimed to assess the association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and lung cancer incidence in European populations.

Methods: This prospective analysis of data obtained by the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects used data from 17 cohort studies based in nine European countries.

Agreement of land use regression models with personal exposure measurements of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides air pollution.

Land use regression (LUR) models are often used to predict long-term average concentrations of air pollutants. Little is known how well LUR models predict personal exposure. In this study, the agreement of LUR models with measured personal exposure was assessed.

Long-term air pollution exposure and cardio- respiratory mortality: a review.

Current day concentrations of ambient air pollution have been associated with a range of adverse health effects, particularly mortality and morbidity due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. In this review, we summarize the evidence from epidemiological studies on long-term exposure to fine and coarse particles, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and elemental carbon on mortality from all-causes, cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease. We also summarize the findings on potentially susceptible subgroups across studies.

Development of land use regression models for particle composition in twenty study areas in Europe.

Land Use Regression (LUR) models have been used to describe and model spatial variability of annual mean concentrations of traffic related pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). No models have yet been published of elemental composition. As part of the ESCAPE project, we measured the elemental composition in both the PM10 and PM2.

Childhood allergic rhinitis, traffic-related air pollution, and variability in the GSTP1, TNF, TLR2, and TLR4 genes: results from the TAG Study.

Background: Associations between traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and allergic rhinitis remain inconsistent, possibly because of unexplored gene-environment interactions.

Objective: In a pooled analysis of 6 birth cohorts (Ntotal = 15,299), we examined whether TRAP and genetic polymorphisms related to inflammation and oxidative stress predict allergic rhinitis and sensitization.

Methods: Allergic rhinitis was defined with a doctor diagnosis or reported symptoms at age 7 or 8 years.

Effects of air pollution on lung function and symptoms of asthma, rhinitis and eczema in primary school children.

Health effects of ambient air pollution were studied in three groups of schoolchildren living in areas (suburban, urban and urban-traffic) with different air pollution levels in Eskişehir, Turkey. This study involved 1,880 students aged between 9 and 13 years from 16 public primary schools. This two-season study was conducted from January 2008 through March 2009.

Evaluation of land use regression models for NO2 and particulate matter in 20 European study areas: the ESCAPE project.

Land use regression models (LUR) frequently use leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV) to assess model fit, but recent studies suggested that this may overestimate predictive ability in independent data sets. Our aim was to evaluate LUR models for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM) components exploiting the high correlation between concentrations of PM metrics and NO2. LUR models have been developed for NO2, PM2.

Composition of PM affects acute vascular inflammatory and coagulative markers - the RAPTES project.

Background: Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) has been associated with adverse cardiovascular effects in epidemiological studies. Current knowledge of independent effects of individual PM characteristics remains limited.

Methods: Using a semi-experimental design we investigated which PM characteristics were consistently associated with blood biomarkers believed to be predictive of the risk of cardiovascular events.

Exposure science, the exposome, and public health.

This commentary discusses recent developments in exposure science and their potential contribution to improving public health.

Acute nasal pro-inflammatory response to air pollution depends on characteristics other than particle mass concentration or oxidative potential: the RAPTES project.

Objectives: To investigate which air pollution characteristics are associated with biomarkers for acute nasal airway inflammation in healthy subjects. We hypothesised that associations would be strongest for oxidative potential (OP) of particles.

Methods: 31 volunteers were exposed to ambient air pollution at five sites in The Netherlands: two traffic sites, an underground train station, a farm and an urban background site.

Components of ambient air pollution affect thrombin generation in healthy humans: the RAPTES project.

Objectives: Increases in ambient particulate matter (PM) have been associated with an elevated risk of stroke, myocardial ischaemia and coronary heart disease, with activation of blood coagulation likely playing an important role. PM-mediated activation of two major activation pathways of coagulation provides a potential mechanism for the observed association between PM and cardiovascular disease. However, it remains unclear which specific characteristics and components of air pollution are responsible.

Environmental exposure assessment in European birth cohorts: results from the ENRIECO project.

Environmental exposures during pregnancy and early life may have adverse health effects. Single birth cohort studies often lack statistical power to tease out such effects reliably. To improve the use of existing data and to facilitate collaboration among these studies, an inventory of the environmental exposure and health data in these studies was made as part of the ENRIECO (Environmental Health Risks in European Birth Cohorts) project.

BMI and waist circumference; cross-sectional and prospective associations with blood pressure and cholesterol in 12-year-olds.

Objective: Childhood and adolescent overweight, defined by body mass index (BMI) are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in later life. Abdominal adiposity may be more important in associations with cardiovascular diseases but waist circumference (WC) has been rarely studied in children. We studied associations between BMI and WC and blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol in 12-year-old children and prospectively changes in BMI or WC status between age 8 and 12 years and BP and cholesterol at age 12.

A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.

Background: Quantification of the disease burden caused by different risks informs prevention by providing an account of health loss different to that provided by a disease-by-disease analysis. No complete revision of global disease burden caused by risk factors has been done since a comparative risk assessment in 2000, and no previous analysis has assessed changes in burden attributable to risk factors over time.

Methods: We estimated deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs; sum of years lived with disability [YLD] and years of life lost [YLL]) attributable to the independent effects of 67 risk factors and clusters of risk factors for 21 regions in 1990 and 2010.

Gas cooking, respiratory and allergic outcomes in the PIAMA birth cohort study.

Objectives: Evidence for a relationship between gas cooking and childhood respiratory health is inconsistent and few longitudinal studies have been reported. Our aim was to examine the association between gas cooking and the development of respiratory and allergic outcomes longitudinally in a prospective birth cohort study.

Methods: The Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy birth cohort study followed children from birth (1996/1997) until age 8.

Waist circumference, BMI, and lung function in 8-year-old children: the PIAMA birth cohort study.

Background: Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) may be associated with lung function in children, as observed in adults.

Methods: Height, weight, waist circumference, and lung function (FVC and FEV1 ) were measured during a medical examination in 1,058 eight-year-old children participating in the Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy (PIAMA) birth cohort study.

Results: After adjusting for height, age and other potential confounders large WC or high BMI (>90th percentile) were not associated with forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) or forced vital capacity (FVC).

Traffic-related air pollution is related to interrupter resistance in 4-year-old children.

Outdoor air pollution has been associated with decrements in lung function and growth of lung function in school-age children. Lung function effects have not been examined in preschoolers, with the exception of one study on minute ventilation in newborns. Our goal was to assess the relationship between long- and short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and interrupter resistance in 4-year-old children.

Development of Land Use Regression models for PM(2.5), PM(2.5) absorbance, PM(10) and PM(coarse) in 20 European study areas; results of the ESCAPE project.

Land Use Regression (LUR) models have been used increasingly for modeling small-scale spatial variation in air pollution concentrations and estimating individual exposure for participants of cohort studies. Within the ESCAPE project, concentrations of PM(2.5), PM(2.

Does pet ownership in infancy lead to asthma or allergy at school age? Pooled analysis of individual participant data from 11 European birth cohorts.

Objective: To examine the associations between pet keeping in early childhood and asthma and allergies in children aged 6-10 years.

Design: Pooled analysis of individual participant data of 11 prospective European birth cohorts that recruited a total of over 22,000 children in the 1990s. EXPOSURE DEFINITION: Ownership of only cats, dogs, birds, rodents, or cats/dogs combined during the first 2 years of life.

Blood pressure in 12-year-old children is associated with fatty acid composition of human milk: the prevention and incidence of asthma and mite allergy birth cohort.

Breastfed individuals have a lower blood pressure than formula-fed individuals. Supplementation with n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in adults is also associated with a lower blood pressure. We studied whether children receiving human milk with a relatively high content of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids have a lower blood pressure at age 12 years, and, if so, whether this association is explained by the n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids content in erythrocyte membranes at age 12 years.

Impact of low emission zones and local traffic policies on ambient air pollution concentrations.

Background: Evaluations of the effectiveness of air pollution policy interventions are scarce. This study investigated air pollution at street level before and after implementation of local traffic policies including low emission zones (LEZ) directed at heavy duty vehicles (trucks) in five Dutch cities.

Methods: Measurements of PM(10), PM(2.

Exposure to cats and dogs, and symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema.

Background: Associations between exposure to cats and dogs and respiratory and allergic outcomes in children have been reported in affluent countries, but little is known about such associations in less-affluent countries.

Methods: The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, phase 3 was carried out in children aged 6-7 years and adolescents aged 13-14 years across the world. Questions about cats and dogs in the home were included in an additional questionnaire.