@article{ref1,
title="Epidemiological disaster research: the necessity to include representative samples of the involved disaster workers. Experience from the epidemiological study air disaster Amsterdam-Esada",
journal="Journal of epidemiology and community health",
year="2006",
author="Huizink, Anja C. and Smidt, Nynke and Twisk, Jos W. R. and Slottje, Pauline and Smid, Tjabe",
volume="60",
number="10",
pages="887-889",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To study whether the methods used to select participants in research on prevalence rates of the health effects of exposure to a disaster may cause bias. This study compared background characteristics, disaster exposure, and complaints reported by (1) police officers who participated in an epidemiological study and underwent a medical examination, and (2) police officers who only participated in an epidemiological study. DESIGN AND SETTING: In 2000, an epidemiological study was started to investigate the health status among police officers who were involved in assistance work related to the air disaster in Amsterdam: the epidemiological study air disaster Amsterdam (ESADA). These police officers were personally invited to participate in the epidemiological study and were additionally offered a medical examination, providing them with the opportunity to have their health checked by a medical doctor. PARTICIPANTS: Of the total group of involved police officers who were invited, 834 (70%) participated in the ESADA: 224 (26.9%) only participated in the study, but 610 (73.1%) also underwent the medical examination. MAIN RESULTS: Police officers who underwent a medical examination significantly more often reported one or more musculoskeletal complaints, skin complaints, general or non-specific complaints, had more often experienced an event with potentially traumatic impact, or had performed one or more potentially traumatic tasks. CONCLUSIONS: The methods of selection of participants are important in research on health effects after disasters and can result in an overestimation of some of the effects, on average, by a factor of 1.5 to 2.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0143-005X",
doi="10.1136/jech.2005.040279",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech.2005.040279"
}