Document qaj9w2ZeVY6RqX1jd2YoKEk7j

HEIMANN ET AL.--HEALTH AND AIR POLLUTION 401 limit of this degree of brevity, it was hoped to obtain basic information first about the family as a whole: family name, residence address and length of time at that residence, previous address and length of time at that address, race (white or Negro), name of family physician, and certain data to assist in the evaluation of the socioeconomic .status ,of the group. In the latter category were questions about the presence or the absence of a telephone and a mechanical refrigerator, , about the number of rooms in the home, and whether or not the family owned or rented its dwelling. In the case of rented dwellings, the rent, paid was ascertained. The socioeconomic data requested were to be studied to prove or disprove the thesis made on the preliminary visual inspection as to the degree of similarity of the socioeconomic characters of the populations in the low and high pollution areas. Finally, the name, age, sex and occupation of each member of the family unit were obtained. The second subject covered by the questionnaire was morbidity; and this information, too, was obtained for each member of the family , unit. Here, again, limitation as to the nature of N*. fiUeiit IM f Imm Mlmi (Itr W N i rl. Nr MARYLAND STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEAUH HEALTH SURVEY i Hw l**g . . -- fm. iRrtti fkytldM Madmtal rcfrig. Ytt N* 0t< HomboU Nr .......... ........ . -- Nnr Im| Own Imih Nr------------ - Rffrtal. (Dvtnr*t*f Fig. 1.--Survey form used by public health nurses in a house to house canvass in which they recorded data pertinent to the effect of air pollution on health. the data to be requested was imposed by many factors, chief among which were the choice of the method of collecting the data, the shortage of funds and finally the hypothesis that one might expect the air pollutants in the community, to be of a nature capable of irritating the exposed mucous membranes, especially those of the respiratory tract. The close physiological association of the lungs and the heart made it advisable to inquire about the disease of the latter organ as well. A separation was made between chronic and acute disease. Finally, a section was devoted to symptoms. Some of the symptoms included in the survey were related to the, upper portion of the gastrointestinal tract because of the experience gained in the study of the effects of air pollution in Donora, Pa.2 x1 2. Schrenk, H. H.; Heimann, H;; Clayton, G. D.; Gafafer, W. Mi, and Wexler, H.: Air Pollution in Donora, Pennsylvania, Bulletin :306, Federal Security Agency, Public Health Service, Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, 1949.