Table 2 Associations between occupational exposure and allergic as well as perennial rhinitis at follow-up for subjects with neither symptoms of allergic rhinitis nor asthma at baseline

	n (%)†	OR (95% CI)
	n (%)†	Total*	Men	Women
Allergic rhinitis
During follow-up		n = 4994	n = 2472	n = 2522
Never exposed (ref)	2939 (58.9%)	1	1	1
Ever exposed to:
High asthma risk agents
HMW	525 (15.2%)	0.91 (0.67 to 1.23)	0.98 (0.52 to 1.86)	0.90 (0.64 to 1.26)
LMW	719 (19.7%)	0.99 (0.77 to 1.29)	1.06 (0.68 to 1.67)	0.98 (0.71 to 1.36)
Mixed	173 (5.6%)	1.10 (0.67 to 1.81)	0.77 (0.37 to 1.60)	1.72 (0.86 to 3.45)
Low asthma risk agents	1413 (32.5%)	1.00 (0.80 to 1.24)	1.05 (0.78 to 1.41)	0.95 (0.68 to 1.34)
Perennial rhinitis
During follow-up		n = 4853	n = 2413	n = 2440
Never exposed (ref)	2850 (58.7%)	1	1	1
Ever exposed to:
High asthma risk agents
HMW	505 (15.1%)	1.10 (0.81 to 1.49)	1.11 (0.62 to 1.96)	1.12 (0.77 to 1.62)
LMW	701 (19.7%)	1.01 (0.77 to 1.33)	1.07 (0.71 to 1.63)	1.02 (0.70 to 1.48)
Mixed	171 (5.7%)	0.91 (0.54 to 1.53)	0.99 (0.53 to 1.86)	0.85 (0.32 to 2.23)
Low asthma risk agents	1380 (32.6%)	1.11 (0.89 to 1.39)	0.94 (0.71 to 1.25)	1.50 (1.06 to 2.12)

*OR (95% CI) additionally adjusted for gender.
†Subjects might be categorised in more than one exposure category, therefore, numbers do not add up to 100%.
Odds ratio with 95% CI adjusted for country, age at first survey, smoking, parental allergies and level of education.