Use of hospital discharge data in the surveillance of occupational disease.
Computerized hospital discharge diagnoses are useful for occupational disease surveillance. One thousand one hundred twenty-six individuals with asbestosis and 268 individuals with silicosis were identified in New Jersey for the four-year period 1979-1982. Computer-generated maps help to dramatize the localization of these conditions to certain geographic areas. The attributes and limitations of using hospital discharge diagnoses for occupational disease surveillance are discussed: initial follow-up data are presented for individuals with silicosis.
Rosenman
K D
KD
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Environmental and Community Medicine, Piscataway 08854.
D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D009515:New Jersey; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011159:Population Surveillance