Chronic bronchitis (CB) has been studied using standardized questionnaires for decades. From being the key element in the 'British hypothesis' chronic bronchitis was reduced to being an innocent disorder in the 1980s. However, there is now good evidence that chronic bronchitis is associated with an increased risk from both overall and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) specific mortality. Presumably through increasing the frequency of lower respiratory tract infections chronic bronchitis is associated with excess decline in lung function, hospital admission and other disease specific outcomes. The prevalence of chronic bronchitis increases with increasing age and the burden associated with chronic bronchitis in this growing proportion of the population is large. Vital prognosis in the elderly is affected by CB and this condition presumably deserves more attention from the medical profession.