Sentinel surveillance and occupational disease

Improving collection and analysis of data to measure trends in occupational diseases (ODs) has long been, and continues to be, a strategic aim of past and future European Union strategies for health and safety at work. precision in terminology has traditionally influenced the gradual growth of science, including in the discipline of medicine. Definitions evolve over time reflecting contemporary scientific thinking and developments shaped by social, political and academic factors. Sentinel surveillance systems in occupational health involve the ongoing and rapid identification of sentinel health events (cases and their corresponding occupational risks) for purposes of follow-up and for developing statistical trends. The goal of such surveillance systems is to enhance case reporting, identify risk factors and high-risk work sites and link preventive interventions to work sites and the broader community. The under-reporting of compensable and non-compensable work-related health problems by physicians is a well-documented phenomenon. Improving the reporting by physicians to surveillance systems in general and particularly health problems attributed to new and emerging risks is a central objective for MODERNET. In the MODERNET consortium, we looked specifically at the term ‘OD’ as it is applied to sentinel surveillance systems and examined if the term facilitates or hinders reporting of work-related health problems to surveillance systems,