Research Plus

Occupational disease reporting

Reliable data on occupational disease (OD) incidence is needed to plan interventions and allocate resources; however, underreporting remains a problem. This Cochrane systematic review, which included seven randomised controlled trials and five controlled before-and-after studies, analysed evidence on ways to improve reporting among physicians. Educational materials, such as a personally addressed newsletter, neither increase the number of physicians reporting ODs (moderate quality evidence) nor the rate of reporting (low quality). There is very low-quality evidence that educational meetings increase the number of physicians reporting ODs compared with no intervention, but do not increase the rate of reporting. Where there is a legal requirement to report an OD sending a reminder about this, rather than one simply describing the benefits of reporting, significantly increases the number of physicians reporting ODs (risk ratio = 1.32; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.66; moderate-quality evidence).

1. Interventions to increase the reporting of occupational diseases by physicians. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2015; 3: CD010305. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD010305.pub2.

Tags evidence based practice prescribed diseases

Occupational Health at Work June/July 2015 (vol. 12/1) pp35