OUTCOMES RESEARCH - IMPLICATIONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL-HEALTH

Concerns about quality, cost, and unnecessary medical care have led to substantial interest and growth in outcomes research with studies to determine the full range of effects of disease and comparative effecti veness of treatments. Investigators have developed new conceptual mode ls of health-related quality of life and associated questionnaires, st udy designs that maximize use of administrative databases and the gene ralizability of results, and methods to control for severity and co-mo rbidity. As similar concerns about occupational health care have emerg ed these approaches are being adapted for use in the occupational sett ing, and studies are beginning to address the concerns of working popu lations. These investigations will require development of new models o f outcome, interdisciplinary research teams, adaptation of data collec tion methods to address the unique concerns of workers and the unique aspects of the workplace, use of new information databases, and method s of analysis. The implications of these concepts for a hypothetical s tudy of carpal tunnel syndrome and a proposed agenda for future studie s in occupational health outcomes research are presented. (C) 1996 Wil ey-Liss, Inc.