[Occupational epidemiology: contributions and prospects].
Occupational epidemiology (OE) played a major role in the development of modern occupational medicine from a practice concerned with individual disease cases to a practice concerned with populations and their working environment. One of the greatest contribution was the identification of occupational carcinogenic agents. OE also represented the foundation for the development of environmental epidemiology which represents today a major research and public health activity. OE has, in perspective, still several contributions to provide to the development of occupational health, including the systematic description of the present burden of work-related disease on our society; the investigation of the mechanistic steps linking exposure to disease onset, in order to identify, in parallel, more adequate and effective prevention measures; the validation of health surveillance and screening programs at work; the study of the "causative" link between exposures and effects; and the risk assessment for an evidence based management of the health risks at work.
Dipartimento di Medicina del Lavoro Clinica del Lavoro Luigi Devoto EPOCA, Centro Ricerche di Epidemiologia Occupazionale, Clinica e Ambientale Università degli Studi e Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento, Milano.
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Bertazzi
D004813:Epidemiology / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000639:trends