Sharing the knowledge gained from occupational cohort studies: a call for action.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Epidemiology
• Environmental Health
• Knowledge Management

Background:

• Job-exposure matrices (JEMs) are crucial for assessing occupational exposures in cohort studies.
• Existing JEMs represent a significant investment in research time and resources.
• Knowledge-sharing technologies can enhance the accessibility and utility of JEMs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the transformation of a detailed JEM into a job-specific module (JSM).
• To showcase the application of JSMs within the OccIDEAS software for community-based studies.
• To promote the wider availability of occupational exposure data.

Main Methods:

• OccIDEAS software was used, integrating JSMs with expert exposure assessment.
• A JEM for endocrine-disrupting chemicals from a German testicular cancer study was utilized.
• The JEM was translated into a JSM within the OccIDEAS framework.

Main Results:

• The JEM translation into OccIDEAS required approximately 50 hours of work by an epidemiologist.
• The process of JEM to JSM transformation was straightforward and not hindered by language barriers.
• International data accessibility required translation of German tasks and exposures after coding.

Conclusions:

• JEMs based on exposure-determining tasks are readily transformable into JSMs.
• Occupational epidemiologists are encouraged to share their JEMs to broaden OccIDEAS' international scope.
• This facilitates the widespread dissemination of occupational exposure data within the epidemiological community.