Air Pollution and Other Local Factors in Respiratory Disease

Abstract

The mortal risks of acute episodes such as the London smog of December, 1952, are well recog- nized, but the insidious effects. of lesser but more continuous atmospheric pollution are less clearly understood. Contrasts in bronchitic mortality between Great Britain and Scandinavia, and between town and country in the United Kingdom, strongly suggest that such effects are important. Uncovering the aetiology of a slowly progressive disease like chronic bronchitis involves the study of its evolution from trivial illness to ultimate death and its relation to other respiratory diseases. As a step towards this, we have used the sickness absence experience of British civil servants to supplement the usual mor- tality data available from the Registrar General's publications.