WORK IN BRIEF
Work in brief
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Although screening is widely advocated for workers at risk of occupational asthma, there are few data on the effectiveness and costs of surveillance. Direct evidence on benefits is costly and hard to collect. Wild et al1 propose the alternative of model based mathematical simulation, taking as their example isocyanate induced asthma. They compare annual surveillance with passive case finding in terms of various outcomes—symptom-free days, quality adjusted life years (QALY), direct costs, productivity losses, and incremental cost effectiveness ratio (CER). Using input data from a variety of published sources, the authors estimate that 638 cases of disability may be prevented by the 10 year surveillance of 100 000 exposed workers, at an incremental cost of $24 000 per QALY with a CER that is "within the acceptable range". Their model proved sensitive to input assumptions, suggesting an element of uncertainty in the figures. Nonetheless, the approach offers a pragmatic way
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Palmer, K.
(2005). Work in brief. Occup. Environ. Med.
62: 741-741
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