The Risks of Phenacetin Use

ALMOST 25 years ago, Dubach and his colleagues noted that many women working in Swiss watch factories took large amounts of analgesic drugs daily because of occupation-related aches and pains. The relation between abuse of analgesics and renal disease had been reported, but here was a unique opportunity to study the problem longitudinally. Thus began one of the more remarkable prospective cohort studies of recent decades.¹ In this issue of the Journal, Dubach et al. report on 20 years of follow-up of this cohort, and their findings are disturbing.² The essence of a cohort investigation is the division of . . .