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.