Details:

Alternative Title:
Occup Environ Med
Personal Author:
Dale, Ann Marie ; Ekenga, Christine C ; Buckner-Petty, Skye ; Merlino, Linda ; Thiese, Matthew S ; ... More +
Dale, Ann Marie ; Ekenga, Christine C ; Buckner-Petty, Skye ; Merlino, Linda ; Thiese, Matthew S ; Bao, Stephen ; Meyers, Alysha Rose ; Harris-Adamson, Carisa ; Kapellusch, Jay ; Eisen, Ellen A ; Gerr, Fred ; Hegmann, Kurt T ; Silverstein, Barbara ; Garg, Arun ; Rempel, David ; Zeringue, Angelique ; Evanoff, Bradley A Less -
Description:
Background

There is growing use of a job exposure matrix (JEM) to provide exposure estimates in studies of work-related musculoskeletal disorders; few studies have examined the validity of such estimates, nor did compare associations obtained with a JEM with those obtained using other exposures.

Objective

This study estimated upper extremity exposures using a JEM derived from a publicly available data set (Occupational Network, O*NET), and compared exposure-disease associations for incident carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) with those obtained using observed physical exposure measures in a large prospective study.

Methods

2393 workers from several industries were followed for up to 2.8 years (5.5 person-years). Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes were assigned to the job at enrolment. SOC codes linked to physical exposures for forceful hand exertion and repetitive activities were extracted from O*NET. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models to describe exposure-disease associations for incident CTS for individually observed physical exposures and JEM exposures from O*NET.

Results

Both exposure methods found associations between incident CTS and exposures of force and repetition, with evidence of dose–response. Observed associations were similar across the two methods, with somewhat wider CIs for HRs calculated using the JEM method.

Conclusion

Exposures estimated using a JEM provided similar exposure-disease associations for CTS when compared with associations obtained using the ‘gold standard’ method of individual observation. While JEMs have a number of limitations, in some studies they can provide useful exposure estimates in the absence of individual-level observed exposures.


Subject:
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1506
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Exposure-response Models
Exposure Assessment
Job Exposure Matrix
Occupational Epidemiology
Validity

Source:
Occup Environ Med. 2018; 75(7):501-506.
Pubmed ID:
29599164
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC6035491
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
R01 OH008017/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; R01 OH009712/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; R01 OH011076/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; T32 CA190194/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States
R01 OH008017/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; R01 OH009712/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; R01 OH011076/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; T32 CA190194/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States Less -
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:bdaba5e30e5605d37c7b87e9c6d51698c47be656c8715e6e9d10b0d3f046e750
File Type:

Supporting Files

• oemed-2017-104744.nxml

  xml

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