ABSTRACT
Medical, sociological, and mathematical statistical methods form the essential fundamentals of epidemiological research. To a very large extent, the predictive value of epidemiological studies depends on the type of data they are based on and how these data were compiled, that is individual, aggregate, or global data. Future epidemiological studies of the correlation between air pollution and lung cancer should be based on sufficient data of concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other potential carcinogens in the atmosphere to which the individual groups were exposed. The substances or chemical classes of substances which are regarded as possible carcinogens never occur separately in the air, but are components of complex mixtures. By calculating partial correlation coefficients, P. Stocks tried to separate the influences exerted by population density and air pollution. According to Gernot Grimmer the influence of air pollution on human health and the development of certain diseases have to be considered proved.
