Inter-rater reliability of assessed prenatal maternal occupational exposures to solvents, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals

Details

• Personal Author:
  Correa A ; Echeverria D ; Hein, Misty J. ; Lawson, Christina C. ; Reefhuis J ; Rocheleau CM ; Stewart PA ; Waters MA
• Description:
  In retrospective occupational exposure studies that use expert assessments, inter-rater reliability is often used as an indicator of validity when validity cannot be directly assessed. We evaluated inter-rater reliability of the exposure assessment of 7,729 jobs reported in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Jobs were classified as exposed, unexposed, or exposure unknown by two independent industrial hygienists; exposed jobs were further evaluated for intensity, frequency, and routes of exposure. Exposure prevalence ranged from less than 1 percent to 10 percent. Inter-rater reliability for exposure (yes/no), assessed by Kappa coefficients, was fair to good for cadmium (K = 0.46), chlorinated solvents (K = 0.59), cobalt (K = 0.54), glycol ethers (K = 0.50), nickel compounds (K = 0.65), oil mists (K = 0.63), and Stoddard Solvent (K = 0.55). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (K = 0.24) and elemental nickel (K = 0.37) had poor agreement. After a consensus conference resolved disagreements, and additional 4,962 jobs were evaluated. Inter-rater reliability improved or stayed the same for cadmium (K = 0.51), chlorinated solvents (K = 0.81), oil mists (x = 0.63), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (K = 0.52), and Stoddard Solvent (x = 0.92) in the second job set. Inter-rater reliability varied by exposure agent and prevalence, demonstrating the importance of measuring reliability as a quality control step. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Hydrocarbons Metals Metals, Heavy Occupational Health Poisoning Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Pregnancy Quality Control Safety Solvents

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• Keywords:
  Birth-defects Exposure-assessment Heavy-metal-poisoning Heavy-metals Industrial-hygienists Information-retrieval-systems Job-analysis Polycyclic-aromatic-hydrocarbons Prenatal-exposure Qualitative-analysis Quality-control

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• ISSN:
  1542-0752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Virginia ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  91
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038906
• Citation:
  Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol 2011 May; 91(5):350
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9) ; Cobalt (CAS RN 7440-48-4) ; Nickel (CAS RN 7440-02-0) ; Stoddard solvent (CAS RN 8052-41-3)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Part Number:
  Special Issue
• Source Full Name:
  Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:22b14e43682b233920db81dc34a91182bb51ab88c58ede6a2b1c91f4d3efe0471f2b0a5b864e413e17c3f283668c597cbda029df8a6816294a13135667a332af
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192437/cdc_192437_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.92 MB ]