TY - JOUR
T1 - Occupational Exposure Assessment Tools in Europe
T2 - A Comprehensive Inventory Overview
AU - Peters, Susan
AU - Vienneau, Danielle
AU - Sampri, Alexia
AU - Turner, Michelle C.
AU - Castaño-Vinyals, Gemma
AU - Bugge, Merete
AU - Vermeulen, Roel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.
PY - 2022/12/22
Y1 - 2022/12/22
N2 - Objectives: The Network on the Coordination and Harmonisation of European Occupational Cohorts (OMEGA-NET) was set up to enable optimization of the use of industrial and general population cohorts across Europe to advance aetiological research. High-quality harmonized exposure assessment is crucial to derive comparable results and to enable pooled analyses. To facilitate a harmonized research strategy, a concerted effort is needed to catalogue available occupational exposure information. We here aim to provide a first comprehensive overview of exposure assessment tools that could be used for occupational epidemiological studies. Methods: An online inventory was set up to collect meta-data on exposure assessment tools. Occupational health researchers were invited via newsletters, editorials, and individual e-mails to provide details of job-exposure matrices (JEMs), exposure databases, and occupational coding systems and their associated crosswalks to translate codes between different systems, with a focus on Europe. Results: Meta-data on 36 general population JEMs, 11 exposure databases, and 29 occupational coding systems from more than 10 countries have been collected up to August 2021. A wide variety of exposures were covered in the JEMs on which data were entered, with dusts and fibres (in 14 JEMs) being the most common types. Fewer JEMs covered organization of work (5) and biological factors (4). Dusts and fibres were also the most common exposures included in the databases (7 out of 11), followed by solvents and pesticides (both in 6 databases). Conclusions: This inventory forms the basis for a searchable web-based database of meta-data on existing occupational exposure information, to support researchers in finding the available tools for assessing occupational exposures in their cohorts, and future efforts for harmonization of exposure assessment. This inventory remains open for further additions, to enlarge its coverage and include newly developed tools.
AB - Objectives: The Network on the Coordination and Harmonisation of European Occupational Cohorts (OMEGA-NET) was set up to enable optimization of the use of industrial and general population cohorts across Europe to advance aetiological research. High-quality harmonized exposure assessment is crucial to derive comparable results and to enable pooled analyses. To facilitate a harmonized research strategy, a concerted effort is needed to catalogue available occupational exposure information. We here aim to provide a first comprehensive overview of exposure assessment tools that could be used for occupational epidemiological studies. Methods: An online inventory was set up to collect meta-data on exposure assessment tools. Occupational health researchers were invited via newsletters, editorials, and individual e-mails to provide details of job-exposure matrices (JEMs), exposure databases, and occupational coding systems and their associated crosswalks to translate codes between different systems, with a focus on Europe. Results: Meta-data on 36 general population JEMs, 11 exposure databases, and 29 occupational coding systems from more than 10 countries have been collected up to August 2021. A wide variety of exposures were covered in the JEMs on which data were entered, with dusts and fibres (in 14 JEMs) being the most common types. Fewer JEMs covered organization of work (5) and biological factors (4). Dusts and fibres were also the most common exposures included in the databases (7 out of 11), followed by solvents and pesticides (both in 6 databases). Conclusions: This inventory forms the basis for a searchable web-based database of meta-data on existing occupational exposure information, to support researchers in finding the available tools for assessing occupational exposures in their cohorts, and future efforts for harmonization of exposure assessment. This inventory remains open for further additions, to enlarge its coverage and include newly developed tools.
KW - epidemiology
KW - exposure assessment
KW - exposure databases
KW - harmonization
KW - job-exposure matrix
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131701736&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/annweh/wxab110
DO - 10.1093/annweh/wxab110
M3 - Article
C2 - 34935027
AN - SCOPUS:85131701736
SN - 2398-7308
VL - 66
SP - 671
EP - 686
JO - Annals of work exposures and health
JF - Annals of work exposures and health
IS - 5
ER -