SWORD '95: surveillance of work-related and occupational respiratory disease in the UK.

An estimated 2,741 new cases of occupational respiratory diseases were reported by chest and occupational physicians in 1995. Total cases reported by 'core' chest physicians and occupational physicians have risen but cases reported by 'sample' physicians have fallen by 32%, reducing the estimated total overall by approximately 16% from 1994. Steps are being taken to reverse this downward trend. Occupational asthma remains the single most frequently reported disease of which more than two thirds of cases were attributed to sensitization. Non-malignant pleural disease was the next most frequently reported, with pleural plaques predominating in 71% of cases. In a study of a selected sample of 158 cases of non-malignant pleural disease, 81 (51%) were seen for medico-legal reasons; of the remainder 13% had signs or symptoms ascribed to the disease.