Kibble Andrew, Harrison Roy
Health Protection Agency, Chemical Hazards & Poisons Division, Birmingham Research Park, UK.
Occup Med (Lond). 2005 Sep;55(6):425-31. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqi138.
Many people live near point sources of air pollution such as industrial sites and waste disposal operations and there are often suggestions of clusters of disease around such activities. Such alleged clusters will generate significant public concern and media interest and in many cases will warrant detailed investigation. However, the ability of current epidemiological methods to investigate such clusters is limited, particularly with regard to obtaining reliable and accurate population exposure data. In many cases, the key question is whether releases from a point source result in a significant increase in exposure or whether other sources (background exposure) give rise to the dominant exposure. This review considers some of the issues around point sources including methods of estimating exposure and briefly discusses some of the epidemiological evidence linking respiratory disease and cancer with specific industries such as coking works and incinerators.
许多人生活在空气污染点源附近，如工业场所和废物处理作业区，而且在这些活动周围常常有疾病聚集的说法。这种所谓的聚集会引起公众的极大关注和媒体的兴趣，在许多情况下需要进行详细调查。然而，目前的流行病学方法调查此类聚集的能力有限，尤其是在获取可靠和准确的人群暴露数据方面。在许多情况下，关键问题是点源排放是否导致暴露显著增加，或者其他来源（背景暴露）是否导致主要暴露。本综述考虑了与点源相关的一些问题，包括暴露估计方法，并简要讨论了将呼吸系统疾病和癌症与特定行业（如炼焦厂和焚化炉）联系起来的一些流行病学证据。
