title: Using occupational history to pinpoint the diagnosis.
abstract: Occupational exposures lead to a significant number of deaths and new cases of illness among the elderly each year. However, physicians are often unskilled in occupational history-taking and are unfamiliar with the associations between toxic exposures and disease. This article offers physicians a systematic approach to taking an occupational history, then describes the more common types of occupational disease in the elderly and an approach for their recognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Landrigan
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002985:Clinical Protocols / Q000592:standards*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000592:standards*; D008499:Medical Records; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards