Exploring the use of death certificates as a component of an occupational health surveillance system.

An effort has been made to explore a case-finding surveillance system for occupationally-related disease using death records. A sentinel health event, here lung cancer in young males, was selected to seek unusual associations with occupations as listed on the death records. Fishermen appeared to be over-represented and population studies cited suggest lung cancer in this occupation deserves further exploration. Further efforts of this type could test the usefulness of an occupational health surveillance system based on the death certificate.