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:
  Because direct measurements of past occupational exposures are rarely available in population-based case-control studies, exposure assessment of job histories by multiple expert raters is frequently used; however, the subjective nature of this method makes measuring reliability an important quality control step. We evaluated inter-rater reliability of 7729 retrospective 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. Exposure prevalence ranged from 0.1-9.8 percent. Inter-rater reliability for exposure (yes/no), assessed by kappa coefficients, was fair to good for cadmium (kappa = 0.46), chlorinated solvents (kappa = 0.59), cobalt (kappa = 0.54), glycol ethers (kappa = 0.50), nickel compounds (kappa = 0.65), oil mists (kappa = 0.63), and Stoddard Solvent (kappa = 0.55); PAHs (kappa = 0.24) and elemental nickel (kappa = 0.37) had poor agreement. After a consensus conference resolved disagreements, an additional 4962 jobs were evaluated. Inter-rater reliability improved or stayed the same for cadmium (kappa = 0.51), chlorinated solvents (kappa = 0.81), oil mists (kappa = 0.63), PAHs (kappa = 0.52), and Stoddard solvent (kappa =0.92) in the second job set. Inter-rater reliability varied by exposure agent and prevalence, demonstrating the importance of measuring reliability in studies using a multiple expert rater method of exposure assessment. [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:
  Author Keywords: Birth Defects Birth-defects Exposure-assessment Exposure Assessment Heavy-metal-poisoning Heavy-metals Industrial-hygienists Industrial Hygienist Information-retrieval-systems Job-analysis Polycyclic-aromatic-hydrocarbons Prenatal-exposure Qualitative-analysis Quality-control Statistical-analysis

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• ISSN:
  1545-9624
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• 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:
  8
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039964
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Hyg 2011 Dec; 8(12):718-728
• Contact Point Address:
  Carissa M. Rocheleau, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Pkwy, MS R-15, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  CRocheleau@cdc.gov
• 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:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Performing Organization:
  Battelle
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:106a5f5602220092b409b22080a8c19562256c46a5d33ba218845b7b78385ecec13a25e6ce64699af2d6ad24f3c70f51239b72f7b617f07c813cc01a3d1631fb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192991/cdc_192991_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 135.16 KB ]