• Am. J. Ind. Med. · Aug 2005

    Exposure to vapors, gas, dust, or fumes: assessment by a single survey item compared to a detailed exposure battery and a job exposure matrix.

    • Paul D Blanc, Mark D Eisner, John R Balmes, Laura Trupin, Edward H Yelin, and Patricia P Katz.
    • Department of Medicine, The Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94117, USA. blancp@itsa.ucsf.edu
    • Am. J. Ind. Med. 2005 Aug 1;48(2):110-7.

    BackgroundOccupational exposure assessment often relies upon subject report. We examined the characteristics of self-reported exposure in respondents' longest held job to vapors, gas, dust, or fumes (VGDF) compared to other measures of exposure risk.MethodsWe analyzed data from 1,876 respondents from a national US population-based telephone survey designed to estimate the association between occupational factors and chronic disease of the airways. We tested a single VGDF item against responses to a 16-item battery assessing specific inhalation exposures and against a job exposure matrix (JEM). We analyzed all of these measures for their association with adult-onset asthma after excluding subjects with COPD or asthma with onset before age 18.ResultsVDGF (single item) was reported by 744 (40%) subjects; any of the 16 exposures by 899 (48%); and an intermediate or high exposure likelihood job by JEM was assigned to 682 (36%). The sensitivity of the VGDF item measured against the 16-item battery was 69%; the specificity was 88%; (classification agreement kappa=0.58); against the JEM classification the sensitivity was 64% and specificity 74% (kappa=0.37). The relative odds (OR) for adult-onset asthma associated with various measures of exposure were: VGDF, 1.7 (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.0-2.8; P=0.04); any of the 16 exposures, 1.6 (95% CI 1.0-2.7; P=0.06), and intermediate or high by JEM, 1.2 (0.7-2.1; P>0.50).ConclusionsA single VGDF survey item appears to delineate exposure risk at least as well as a multiple-item battery assessing such exposures; it has modest agreement with a JEM-based exposure categorization.Copyright (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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