TY - JOUR T1 - Variation in incidence trends of malignant pleural mesothelioma in Europe JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.02384-2017 VL - 51 IS - 2 SP - 1702384 AU - Mohammed Ahmed AU - Antoinette Flannery AU - Irfan Mujammil AU - David Breen Y1 - 2018/02/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/51/2/1702384.abstract N2 - We read with interest the article by Ji et al. [1] regarding the epidemiology of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) in Sweden and familial clustering. The data in the study show the incidence of MPM in Sweden peaked in 2000 and has sharply declined since 2005. Data from other countries suggest a more delayed peak [2–4]. The highest annual incidence of MPM in the world has been reported to occur in the UK and Australia [5]. The incidence of MPM was predicted to peak in UK between 2011 and 2015; this was based on the known associated high latency period and the ban in using asbestos-containing products [6]. This variability in incidence trends across Europe can be explained by the different dates of asbestos bans in Europe, but Ireland migration trends also potentially play a role. Data from our institute indicates that the incidence of malignant mesothelioma has been increasing over the last decade (20 new cases diagnosed in 2002–2008 versus 26 cases in 2009–2013, an increase of 30% (95% CI 11.9–54.2%)). These findings are consistent with the statistics from the National Cancer Registry Ireland (figure 1) [7].The incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma is rising in some European countries; migration trends play a role http://ow.ly/YPRr30hAd3T ER -