Open AccessTHE FEASIBILITY OF ASCERTAINING EXPOSURE TO PESTICIDES BY SELF REPORT IN AUSTRALIAN VIETNAM VETERANS
Author(s) -
O'Toole Brian I.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
community health studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 0314-9021
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1985.tb00473.x
Subject(s) - environmental health , pesticide , medicine , occupational exposure , metropolitan area , agent orange , reliability (semiconductor) , toxicology , geography , pathology , biology , power (physics) , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , agronomy
To assess the feasibility of developing a subjective measurement of exposure to pesticides (herbicides and insecticides) among Australian Vietnam veterans, a series of questions was asked in a survey of 300 randomly selected former soldiers on the electoral roll in Sydney metropolitan electorates, who had served in Vietnam. Data quality was measured in terms of adequacy and reliability of responses to exposure questions, while validity was assessed by reference to army records or by examining the content of answers. Exposure to pesticides in Vietnam was difficult to ascertain; reliability was low and the content of responses did not differentiate clearly between herbicide and insecticide exposure. Similarly, the quality of responses to questions of chemical exposure in a civilian environment was also low. In attempting to assess the sequelae of chemical exposure, questions on circumstances of exposure should be limited to occupational exposure, since such data are amenable to validity checks. In studying Vietnam veterans and using control groups who did not go to Vietnam it may be necessary to assume that all veterans were potentially exposed and all non‐veterans were not, and stratification undertaken by potential for occupational exposure to chemicals both in the army and in civilian life.