title: The methodological problems of multinational epidemiological studies with particular reference to carbon black studies.
abstract: The reduction in the size of available populations within a single company or country has forced researchers to use multicentric and even multinational study designs. This paper describes an example of this approach by means of reviewing the published carbon black literature with specific regard to the epidemiological difficulties, the study design used in the multinational European carbon black study, and a discussion of the difficulties and weaknesses encountered. A number of solutions are proposed to counter the inherent drawbacks of this design, and it is felt that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational Health, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gardiner
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D012107:Research Design
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon