Community studies of lung disease in Connecticut: organization and methods.

We have obtained data on respiratory symptoms, enviornmental exposures, and lung function in 3730 residents, aged seven years and over, of a rural and an urban community in Connecticut. We used newly developed computerized techniques of data acquisition. The respondents represent 66.3% of the total populations available for study in the defined geographic areas (75.2% in the rural and 54.7% in the urban community). Door-to-door surveys in defined areas within each community provided information on the nonrespondents. Data on 92% of all residents were obtained in the door-to-door survey areas. Comparisons of respiratory symptoms and smoking habits between respondents and nonrespondents in the door-to-door survey areas, and between respondents living in the door-to-door survey areas and elsewhere in the two towns, led to the conclusion that the data on the respondents are an accurate reflection of the lung disease experienced by the total populations of the two communities.