Airway Mucus Plugs in Community-Living Adults: A Study Protocol.

Utilization of data from two well-characterized large community-based US cohorts.Use of chest CT scans to identify and quantify mucus plugs, providing a more objective and reproducible measure of airway pathology.Use of whole-genome sequencing to identify common and rare genetic variants associated with mucus pathology.Only the inclusion of participants self-identified as non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black.A limitation of retrospective study design using prospectively collected data.