ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2014
Air pollution and respiratory infections during early childhood: an analysis of 10 European birth cohorts within the ESCAPE Project.
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 102 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
102 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 307 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care tests for acute respiratory infection: a systematic review of reviews.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2026Pooled it
- The association between early-life respiratory infections and childhood asthma: a meta-analytic perspective.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Long-term exposure to elemental carbon and disease incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2025Pooled it
- Ambient Air Pollution and Respiratory Health in Sub-Saharan African Children: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Associations between Particulate Matter and Otitis Media in Children: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- The associations of air pollution exposure during pregnancy with fetal growth and anthropometric measurements at birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2019Pooled it
- Air Pollution and Otitis Media in Children: A Systematic Review of Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Pooled it
- Bronchial mucosal nuclear transcription factor expression and inflammatory response in humans after exposure to wood smoke.Particle and fibre toxicology · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Proximity to major roadways and asthma symptoms in the School Inner-City Asthma Study.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2020Trial
- Machine learning and dose response effect models: an integrated approach to analyze the association between environmental variables and Cuneo Emergency Department admissions for Acute Otitis Media (2007-2015).International journal of biometeorology · 2026Article
- Health impacts and risk assessment of PMToxicology reports · 2025Article
- Particulate matter air pollution: effects on the respiratory system.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Interactive effects of air pollutants and viral exposure on daily influenza hospital visits in Mongolia.Environmental research · 2025Article
- How air pollution fuels respiratory infections in children: current insights.Frontiers in public health · 2025Review
- The global burden of neonatal sepsis attributable to air pollution from 1990 to 2021: findings from the global burden of disease study 2021.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A Study of the Influence of Meteorological and Environmental Factors on Otitis Media with Effusion in Lanzhou.Indian journal of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery : official publication of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India · 2024Article
- Revisiting Decades of Research on Air Pollution and Acute Lower Respiratory Infections.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2024Article
- Perinatal exposure to traffic related air pollutants and the risk of infection in the first six months of life: a cohort study from a low-middle income country.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2024Article
- Burden and trends of infectious disease mortality attributed to air pollution, unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene, and non-optimal temperature globally and in different socio-demographic index regions.Global health research and policy · 2024Observational
42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
35 authors at 16 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFew studies have investigated traffic-related air pollution as a risk factor for respiratory infections during early childhood.
objectivesWe aimed to investigate the association between air pollution and pneumonia, croup, and otitis media in 10 European birth cohorts--BAMSE (Sweden), GASPII (Italy), GINIplus and LISAplus (Germany), MAAS (United Kingdom), PIAMA (the Netherlands), and four INMA cohorts (Spain)--and to derive combined effect estimates using meta-analysis.
methodsParent report of physician-diagnosed pneumonia, otitis media, and croup during early childhood were assessed in relation to annual average pollutant levels [nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter≤2.5 μm (PM2.5), PM2.5 absorbance, PM10, PM2.5-10 (coarse PM)], which were estimated using land use regression models and assigned to children based on their residential address at birth. Identical protocols were used to develop regression models for each study area as part of the ESCAPE project. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted effect estimates for each study, and random-effects meta-analysis was used to calculate combined estimates.
resultsFor pneumonia, combined adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were elevated and statistically significant for all pollutants except PM2.5 (e.g., OR=1.30; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.65 per 10-μg/m3 increase in NO2 and OR=1.76; 95% CI: 1.00, 3.09 per 10-μg/m3 PM10). For otitis media and croup, results were generally null across all analyses except for NO2 and otitis media (OR=1.09; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.16 per 10-μg/m3).
conclusionOur meta-analysis of 10 European birth cohorts within the ESCAPE project found consistent evidence for an association between air pollution and pneumonia in early childhood, and some evidence for an association with otitis media.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.