TY - JOUR T1 - Air pollution and children’s health: where next? JF - BMJ Paediatrics Open JO - BMJ Paediatrics Open DO - 10.1136/bmjpo-2020-000706 VL - 5 IS - 1 SP - e000706 AU - Abigail Whitehouse AU - Jonathan Grigg Y1 - 2021/04/01 UR - http://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/5/1/e000706.abstract N2 - On 17 December 2020, the H.M. Assistant Coroner for Inner South London, Dr Philip Barlow, opened an inquest into the death of Ella Roberta Adoo Kissi-Debrah from an asthma attack.1 Ella lived next to the South Circular Road and for most of her short life had been exposed to excessively high levels of a traffic-derived mix of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM) less than 10 microns in aerodynamic diameter (PM10—the inhalable fraction), and the non-exhaust sources of PM such as tyre and brake wear. After hearing extensive evidence from medical and pollution monitoring experts, his decision was Ella died from acute respiratory failure, asthma, and air pollution exposure—the first time ever that a coroner has found air pollution as a contributory cause of illness and death, and providing support for future litigation. In addition, the judgement provides us with a real-life example of what has been known for some time from epidemiological studies, that traffic-derived air pollution not only contributes to incident asthma but also triggers fatal asthma attacks. Since the link between air pollution and asthma has now been settled by legal judgement in the UK, the question is where next for air pollution research? In this article, we highlight some of the questions that are yet to be answered and may further strengthen the case for urgently reducing exposure of children to traffic-derived air pollutants.The Royal College of Physicians/Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health report ‘Every Breath We Take’, published in 2016, identified emerging epidemiological evidence for the effects of maternal inhalation of air pollutants on the developing fetus.2 For example, the ESCAPE (European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects) cohort study found an increased risk of low birth weight at term, both in terms of direct exposure … ER -