SYN-JEM: A Quantitative Job-Exposure Matrix for Five Lung Carcinogens

Area of Science:

• Occupational hygiene and environmental epidemiology.
• Quantitative exposure assessment methodologies.

Background:

• Occupational exposure assessment benefits from quantitative data for exposure-response analyses.
• Five lung carcinogens (asbestos, chromium-VI, nickel, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons/benzo(a)pyrene, and respirable crystalline silica) were assessed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a quantitative job-exposure matrix (JEM) for assessing occupational exposure to five lung carcinogens.
• To enable more quantitative analyses of exposure-response relationships in community-based studies.

Main Methods:

• Statistical modeling of a large dataset (n=102,306) of personal occupational exposure measurements from Europe and Canada.
• Incorporation of auxiliary data including job, year, region, exposure rating, and sampling/analytical methods.
• Development of empirical linear models to create a JEM with quantitative exposure estimates by job, year, and region.

Main Results:

• Observed decreasing time trends for all agents from the 1970s to 2009, with annual decreases ranging from -1.2% (benzo(a)pyrene, nickel) to -10.7% (asbestos).
• Significant regional differences in exposure concentrations were found, varying by agent (factor 3.3 for chromium-VI to 10.5 for asbestos).
• Time-, job-, and region-specific exposure levels were estimated for four of the five lung carcinogens.

Conclusions:

• A quantitative job-exposure matrix (JEM) was successfully derived using statistical modeling of extensive personal occupational exposure data.
• The developed JEM provides time-, job-, and region-specific exposure estimates for key lung carcinogens.
• This quantitative JEM is valuable for community-based studies requiring detailed exposure assessment.