[The incidence of the loss of work capacity in chronic respiratory diseases within the area of Hunedoara County].

Within the highly polluted area of the Committee for medical valuation of work ability--Deva, with 186,563 inhabitants out of which 73,046 wage earners (43% of them in industry), the percentage of disabled persons (through chronic respiratory diseases except tuberculosis) is 8%. In a group od 161 chronic respiratory disease patients pensioned in 1985-1989 and representing 0.44/1000 of all wage earners (0.35/1000 in urban and 0.71/1000 in rural areas), most of them (1.03/1000) came from the extractive and mining industry, 67% over 51 years of age. On the first places of disablement causes there are mentioned: COPD (34%), malignant tumours (23%), bronchial asthma (17%), and on the last place--post Tb-syndromes (3%). Proposals of retirement come--in their majority--from the Department of Internal Diseases. The study shows that the incidence of retirements (for disease) is an important index of the epidemiological situation of these diseases and of the severity in the evolution of some of them (cancer, COPD), that treatments and recovering methods are little efficient, and the pneumophysiology departments and sanatoria are not correspondingly involved in the control of such diseases. Pneumology sections or compartments as well as units provided with adequate and equipment are required, at least in the areas polluted with noxious powders and chemical substances.