Data from a general population cohort of 878 men from the town of Zutphen, The Netherlands, were used to evaluate the performance of two general job-exposure matrices. Exposures generated by the job-exposure matrices on the basis of job histories were compared. The validity of those exposures was measured against exposures reported by the participants in 1977/1978. The performance of the different exposure measures was assessed in proportional hazards analyses of lung cancer morbidity incidence. The two general job-exposure matrices generally disagreed with regard to exposure classification because of differences in exposure assessment and level of detail of the job axis. When compared with self-reported exposures, the sensitivity of both job-exposure matrices was low (on average, below 0.51), while the specificity was generally high (on average, above 0.90). Self-reported exposures to asbestos, pesticides, and welding fumes showed elevated risk ratios for lung cancer which were absent for exposures generated by the two job-exposure matrices. Thus, a population-specific job-exposure matrix is proposed as an alternative to general job-exposure matrices developed elsewhere. Such a matrix can be constructed from the results of in-depth interviews of a job-stratified sample of cohort members. Sound validation and documentation of exposure assessment methods used in job-exposure matrices are recommended.

Information about trace metals and coronary heart disease risk indicators was collected in 1977 among 152 men aged 57-76 years in the town of Zutphen, the Netherlands. Serum zinc, serum copper, blood cadmium, and blood lead were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and serum lithium by flame emission spectrometry. After uni- and multivariate regression analysis, the following statistically significant relations were found: serum zinc was inversely related to resting heart rate; serum copper was positively related to cigarette smoking and inversely to high density lipoprotein cholesterol; blood cadmium was strongly positively related to cigarette smoking and inversely to Quetelet index; the positive relation between blood lead and cigarette smoking was of borderline significance; and blood lead was related to blood pressure, with the relation being stronger for systolic than for diastolic blood pressure.

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