Victoria M. Trasko: champion of state-based surveillance of occupational diseases in the United States, 1937 to 1971.
Victoria M. Trasko (1907-1979), a relatively unknown figure to many currently practicing occupational health specialists, was a pioneer in state-based surveillance of occupational diseases in the United States. To highlight her accomplishments during her career with the United States Public Health Service from 1937 to 1971, this report briefly reviews her publications on occupational disease surveillance. Her span of work includes guidelines for state industrial hygiene programs, numbers of workers in state occupational health programs, compilation of state and local laws related to industrial hygiene, proposals for standardized reporting of occupational disease, and analysis of trends in workers' compensation and mortality statistics for occupational diseases. She pilot tested the first state-based model system for occupational disease reporting in the United States. She documented the great difficulty experienced by states in getting physicians to report cases of occupational diseases, and pointed out that surveillance of other existing data sources was worthwhile, at least for some occupational diseases. She was the first to report on the distribution of silicosis cases in the United States by state, industry, and job title. She was the first to comment on mortality trends for the pneumoconioses and to document problems in comparability between different International Classification of Disease (ICD) periods.
Costa
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Division of Respiratory Disease Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV.
Castellan
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Richards
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Yaffe
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D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.) / Q000266:history; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000266:history / Q000517:prevention & control; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000266:history*; D011009:Pneumoconiosis / Q000266:history / Q000517:prevention & control; D012829:Silicosis / Q000266:history / Q000517:prevention & control; D014481:United States; D014492:United States Public Health Service / Q000266:history