To gain more insight into the processes involved in workers’ inference of illness from work, more research is needed. One way to study the possible enhancement of workers’ self-assessment

is by developing and validating a specific module with a variety of validated questions on the issue of work relatedness as experienced by the worker. Such a “”work-relatedness questionnaire”"(generic or GDC973 disease specific) may explore (1) the temporal relationship between exposure and the start or deterioration of symptoms, (2) the dose–response relationship reflected in the improvement of learn more symptoms away from work and/or deterioration of symptoms if the worker carries out specific tasks or works in exposure areas, and (3) whether there are colleagues affected by the same symptoms related to the same exposure (Bradford Hill 1965; Lax et al. 1998; Agius 2000; Cegolon et al. 2010). The exploration of issues such as reactions

on high non-occupational exposure and the issue of susceptibility may be added as well. After studying the validity and reliability of such a specific module, it could be combined into a new instrument with a reliable and valid questionnaire on self-reported (ill) health. Acknowledgments The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), United Kingdom, is thanked for funding CHIR-99021 this research. The funders approved the study design but had no role in the data collection, analysis, the decision to publish or the preparation of the manuscript. Conflict of interest All authors declare not having any competing interests. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. References Agius R (2000) Taking an

occupational history. Health environment & work 2000 (http://​www.​agius.​com/​hew/​resource/​occhist.​htm) HSP90 (updated in April 2010; accessed on 28 December 2010) Åkesson I, Johnsson B, Rylander L, Moritz U, Skerfving S (1999) Musculoskeletal disorders among female dental personnel–clinical examination and a 5-year follow-up study of symptoms. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 72(6):395–403CrossRef Altman DG (1991) Practical statistics for medical research. Chapman & Hall, Boca Raton Beckett M, Weinstein M, Goldman N, Yu-Hsuan L (2000) Do health interview surveys yield reliable data on chronic illness among older respondents? Am J Epidemiol 151(3):315–323 Bjorksten MG, Boquist B, Talback M, Edling C (1999) The validity of reported musculoskeletal problems. A study of questionnaire answers in relation to diagnosed disorders and perception of pain.