The incidence and severity of acute respiratory illness in families exposed to different levels of air pollution, New York metropolitan area, 1971-1972.

The incidence and severity of acute respiratory disease was studied in families in three New York communities with different ambient levels of SO2 and particulate air pollution. Upper, lower, and total respiratory disease rates in fathers, mothers, and school children tended to be higher in the communities with higher pollution levels. Similar higher rates, however, were not observed among preschool children.

[Mortality data and statistics, importance for health services and epidemiological research (author's transl)].

In most industrialized countries mortality data are the only medically relevant complete statistics for the description of health and disease in a population. Although mortality data reflect just the opposite of the state of health of a population, specific age and sex mortality rates are important indicators of the health status of a population and beyond that for the social system, e.g.