Use of a monthly health review to ascertain illness and injuries

Abstract

A Monthly Health Review was developed to monitor symptoms, illnesses and injuries among Air Traffic Controllers. Return rate of the mailed check-list exceeded 90 per cent. Diagnoses were generated from symptom clusters by computer algorithms. Telephone interview by physicians, laboratory analyses for serum pepsinogen I, and analyses of relations between symptom clusters and degree of disability all served to support the validity of the methodology. Such a system can provide inexpensive surveillance of morbidity in suitable populations.