Occupational asbestos exposure and mesothelioma risk in Los Angeles County: application of an occupational hazard survey job-exposure matrix

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bernstein L ; Cicioni C ; Garabrant, David H. ; London SJ ; Peters, John M. ; Phillips K
• Description:
  The newly available job exposure matrix (JEM) of the NIOSH National Occupational Hazard Survey (NOHS) was evaluated by comparing it with the Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Cancer Surveillance Program (CSP) for assessing the association between asbestos (1332214) exposure and malignant mesothelioma occurrence in Los Angeles County. The CSP data for the years 1972 to 1988 included 143 patients diagnosed with mesothelioma and a total of 46,644 cases of cancer diagnosed among men aged 18 to 64 years. The NOHS JEM data, based on a survey of 538,871 workers, were adapted to the CSP data. Exposure categories for industry and occupations were graded as none, low, and high. Estimates of the odds ratio of mesothelioma associated with a particular level of asbestos exposure were obtained by comparing the number of patients with mesothelioma in a particular exposure category with the number of other cancer patients in that particular category. The results were discussed under application of NOHS JEM to CSP data, mesothelioma risk based on NOHS JEM asbestos exposure categories, mesothelioma risk based on job title exposure levels, and comparison of the two methods. When the correlation was made between exposure assignments for cancer cases that could be assigned an exposure by both methods there was a weak correlation between the two methods, with a Spearman correlation of 0.28. Of the 4116 cancers in occupation/industry (OI) couplets with an exposure probability above zero according to NOHS JEM, 45% were in couplets assigned to the "none" exposure category. Of the 288 cancers in OI couplets classified as highly exposed, 62.5% were in couplets with an asbestos exposure probability equal to zero, and 20.5% were in couplets not included in NOHS JEM. Limitations on the application of the NOHS JEM and its shortcomings were discussed. The authors conclude that JEMs should not be considered the principal means of exposure assessment, but as part of the armamentarium available for exposure assignments in epidemiologic studies. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Exposure Epidemiology Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Job Exposure Matrix Biostatistics Cancer-rates Industrial-exposures Inferring Occupational Exposure Malignant-neoplasms Mesothelioma Risk NIOSH-Grant NIOSH-Publication Occupational-exposure Risk-analysis Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs Surveillance Programs Training

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  371-379
• Volume:
  20
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00202765
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 1991 Sep; 20(3):371-379
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. John M. Peters, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California School of Medicine, 1420 San Pablo Street, B-306, Los Angeles, CA 90033-9987
• CAS Registry Number:
  Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• Performing Organization:
  University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19840701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  19940630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:baaf296a8eb7239b6f62a60f60ed5c342b3c178ee78d5fc0c3883ee8ca0b1e97ed1f2f194e53b06980bb2e33f81f8a1f2956d447eb69256379c7dc606dee1ee5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/205226/cdc_205226_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 560.80 KB ]