Data extraction was performed in duplicate by two authors (Gavin Sun and Cheryl Barnabe). A standard reporting form was developed to extract pertinent information from each study, including the country or region of study, calendar years of study, diagnosis criteria for the rheumatic disease assessed, and the number of patients in case or control groups in each category. The study design and method of assessing air pollutant levels were also extracted. The estimates and their margin of error were extracted. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale  was used to assess the quality of the studies relevant to the objective, again in duplicate by two authors (Gavin Sun and Cheryl Barnabe). For case-control studies, quality was assessed for four domains of selection (case definition, representativeness of cases, selection of controls, and definition of controls), two domains of comparability (study controls for the most important factor and any additional important factor), and three domains of exposure (ascertainment of exposure, same method of ascertainment for cases and controls, and the nonresponse rate). For cohort studies, quality is assessed for four domains of selection (representativeness of exposed cohort, selection of the nonexposed cohort, ascertainment of exposure, and demonstration that the outcome of interest was not present at start of study), two domains of comparability (study controls for the most important factor and any additional important factor), and three domains of outcome (method of assessment of outcome, follow-up period, and adequacy of follow-up of cohorts). Points are assigned based on specified levels of quality within each domain to a maximum of 9 points.