Current view of epidemiologic study designs for occupational and environmental lung diseases

Epidemiologic studies long have played a role in the understanding of the e ffects of the general environment and various occupational exposures on the occurrence of acute and chronic diseases of the lung. This article is an o verview of epidemiologic study designs that have particular relevance to st udies of environmental and occupational lung disease. The application of ti mes-series designs in the context of epidemiologic studies is discussed, as such designs have become widely used in studies of health effects ambient air pollution. The article emphasizes recent developments in the applicatio n of case-control study designs, many of which have had particular applicat ions in epidemiologic studies related to environmental and occupational lun g disease. These case-control designs offer efficient and valid alternative s for studies that in the past might have been conducted as more costly and time-consuming cohort studies.