TY - JOUR
T1 - Modelling of occupational respirable crystalline silica exposure for quantitative exposure assessment in community-based case-control studies
AU - Peters, Susan
AU - Vermeulen, Roel
AU - Portengen, Lützen
AU - Olsson, Ann C.
AU - Kendzia, Benjamin
AU - Vincent, Raymond
AU - Savary, Barbara
AU - Lavoué, Jérôme
AU - Cavallo, Domenico
AU - Cattaneo, Andrea
AU - Mirabelli, Dario
AU - Plato, Nils
AU - Fevotte, Joelle
AU - Pesch, Beate
AU - Brüning, Thomas
AU - Straif, Kurt
AU - Kromhout, Hans
PY - 2011/11
Y1 - 2011/11
N2 - We describe an empirical model for exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) to create a quantitative job-exposure matrix (JEM) for community-based studies. Personal measurements of exposure to RCS from Europe and Canada were obtained for exposure modelling. A mixed-effects model was elaborated, with region/country and job titles as random effect terms. The fixed effect terms included year of measurement, measurement strategy (representative or worst-case), sampling duration (minutes) and a priori exposure intensity rating for each job from an independently developed JEM (none, low, high). 23640 personal RCS exposure measurements, covering a time period from 1976 to 2009, were available for modelling. The model indicated an overall downward time trend in RCS exposure levels of -6% per year. Exposure levels were higher in the UK and Canada, and lower in Northern Europe and Germany. Worst-case sampling was associated with higher reported exposure levels and an increase in sampling duration was associated with lower reported exposure levels. Highest predicted RCS exposure levels in the reference year (1998) were for chimney bricklayers (geometric mean 0.11 mg m -3), monument carvers and other stone cutters and carvers (0.10 mg m -3). The resulting model enables us to predict time-, job-, and region/country-specific exposure levels of RCS. These predictions will be used in the SYNERGY study, an ongoing pooled multinational community-based case-control study on lung cancer.
AB - We describe an empirical model for exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) to create a quantitative job-exposure matrix (JEM) for community-based studies. Personal measurements of exposure to RCS from Europe and Canada were obtained for exposure modelling. A mixed-effects model was elaborated, with region/country and job titles as random effect terms. The fixed effect terms included year of measurement, measurement strategy (representative or worst-case), sampling duration (minutes) and a priori exposure intensity rating for each job from an independently developed JEM (none, low, high). 23640 personal RCS exposure measurements, covering a time period from 1976 to 2009, were available for modelling. The model indicated an overall downward time trend in RCS exposure levels of -6% per year. Exposure levels were higher in the UK and Canada, and lower in Northern Europe and Germany. Worst-case sampling was associated with higher reported exposure levels and an increase in sampling duration was associated with lower reported exposure levels. Highest predicted RCS exposure levels in the reference year (1998) were for chimney bricklayers (geometric mean 0.11 mg m -3), monument carvers and other stone cutters and carvers (0.10 mg m -3). The resulting model enables us to predict time-, job-, and region/country-specific exposure levels of RCS. These predictions will be used in the SYNERGY study, an ongoing pooled multinational community-based case-control study on lung cancer.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=82955170689&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/c1em10628g
DO - 10.1039/c1em10628g
M3 - Article
C2 - 22001827
AN - SCOPUS:82955170689
SN - 1464-0325
VL - 13
SP - 3262
EP - 3268
JO - Journal of environmental monitoring
JF - Journal of environmental monitoring
IS - 11
ER -