What Is an Adverse Health Effect?

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Abstract
An adverse health effect may be defined as a biological change that reduces the level of well being or functional capacity. A wide range of changes from trivial to fatal needs to be considered. In reaching a conclusion about what is adverse, future implications as well as present status must often be assessed. Without such prognosis, it may be impossible to differentiate between a physiological and a pathological change. In such a situation, disagreements are bound to arise about whether the effect is adverse or not. Unfortunately, evidence on the future implications of many questionable effects is largely lacking. Examples, mainly from the respiratory field, are presented to illustrate how gaps in knowledge can be filled. The collection of such data is an important use of epidemiology.

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