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Methods for survey and diagnosis
Author(s) -
Richerson Hal B.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700250108
Subject(s) - medicine , hypersensitivity pneumonitis , epidemiology , asthma , disease , lung disease , pulmonary disease , everyday life , intensive care medicine , family medicine , environmental health , pathology , epistemology , lung , immunology , philosophy
This contribution is an overview of current epidemiologic methods used in evaluating organic dust‐containing environments for evidence of adverse pulmonary effects. Potential problems include vague diagnostic criteria of “disease” and inadequate tools for definitive diagnosis, as illustrated by asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. The enthusiastic investigator may consider trivial changes indicative of real or potential disease, and add the studied environment to a growing list of menaces of the workplace or of everyday life. Attention to scientific principles is needed lest epidemiology becomes scare‐mongering made respectable by sophisticated statistics. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.