Adaptation of an International Job Exposure Matrix to Assess Exposure to Occupational Asthmagens in the United States

Details

• Personal Author:
  Breen VR ; DeBruyckere DM ; Heumann MA ; O'Connor EA ; Villnave JM ; Vollmer WM
• Description:
  We adapted a previously described (Kennedy et al., Occup Environ Med 2000;57:635-641) asthma-specific job exposure matrix (AJEM) so that it could be used reliably in the United States. The AJEM and limited expert judgment can estimate asthma exposure risk in occupational epidemiology studies. The Kennedy et al. AJEM uses the International Standard Classification of Occupations, 1988 edition (ISOC-88) coding system. A coder trained in the U.S. Bureau of Census (BOC) system mapped each ISCO-88 code to a corresponding BOC-2000 code(s). An industrial hygienist and an occupational health physician then created exposure ratings for those BOC-2000 jobs that did not get mapped or that had multiple, inconsistently rated mappings. The mapping from ISCO-88 to BOC-2000 was surprisingly difficult. Of the 507 ISCO-88 codes in the Kennedy et al. AJEM, 133 (26%) could not be reliably mapped into BOC-2000 codes, and 224 (44%) of the 509 BOC-2000 codes had no mapping. An additional 74 BOC-2000 codes had multiple, inconsistent ISCO-88 mappings. Accordingly, we created new exposure ratings for over half of those in the new AJEM. Factors that made the mapping from ISCO-88 to BOC-2000 difficult included distinctions in education/skill level and in company size in ISCO-88 that are not present in BOC-2000. We have successfully adapted the Kennedy et al. AJEM to a tool that is more suitable for use in the U.S., where jobs are commonly coded using the U.S. BOC coding system. This will enable efficient assessment of occupational exposures to agents associated with asthma. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Epidemiology Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Bronchial-asthma Exposure-levels Industrial-hygienists Job-analysis Occupational-exposure Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders
• ISSN:
  1073-449X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary ; Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  167
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023066
• Citation:
  Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2003 Apr; 167(7):A505
• Email:
  jacqueline.villnave@kpchr.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2003 International Conference, The American Thoracic Society, Seattle, WA, May 16-21, 2003
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:73b6832e370b19a3168ffeef15c4f5f4785d5bb5dc92e0a9a97604c21026e65be64de299dd05e45a7ba1be07b77252edd8ad9058ce9f80d368c232d4a9ac66e8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199650/cdc_199650_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 191.23 KB ]