ABSTRACT
The subject of this chapter is the use of chest radiographic data as response variables in the study of occupational lung diseases. Restrictions on the subject and length of this volume preclude consideration of the range of radiographic appearances seen in various disorders. For the qualitative distinctions between various disorders, the reader can refer to textbooks of radiology [1,2] or chest diseases [3-7], or to review articles [8-15]. For details of quantitative relationships of a radiographic feature to dosage of a noxious inhalant, or to other response variables such as pulmonary function testing, disability, or death, the reader must search the current medical literature. The perspective on these relationships changes with almost every addition of data from population studies. We are concerned here with quantifying the changes in the pattern of shadows in the chest radiograph produced by inhaled dust. Most of the work has been on disorders caused by mineral dusts, although similar approaches have been tried for study of other conditions.
