Cross-national comparison of two general population job exposure matrices for physical work exposures

Abstract

ObjectivesJob exposure matrices (JEMs) are increasingly used to estimate physical workplace exposures. We conducted a cross-national comparison of exposure estimates from two general population JEMs to aid the interpretation of exposure–outcome associations across countries and to explore the feasibility of cross-national application of JEMs to provide workplace physical exposure estimates.MethodsWe compared physical exposure estimates from two general population JEMs created from the FrenchCohorte des consultants des Centres d’examens de santé study (27 exposure variables) and the American Occupational Information Network database (21 exposure variables). These exposure variables were related to physical demands or ergonomic risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. We used a crosswalk to match French Profession et Catégorie Sociale job codes with American Standard Occupational Classification job codes and calculated Spearman’s correlations and Cohen’s kappa values for exposure variable pairs between these French and American JEMs. We defined a priori 50 matched French and American JEM variable pairs that measured similar exposures.ResultsAll variable pairs measuring similar physical exposures demonstrated positive correlations. Among the 50 matched pairs, 33 showed high correlation (ρ≥0.70) and 46 showed at least moderate agreement (κ≥0.41). Exposures expected to be mutually exclusive (manual work vs office work) showed strongly negative correlations.ConclusionsFrench and American general population physical exposure JEMs were related, sharing moderate to high association and moderate to substantial agreement between the majority of variable pairs measuring similar exposures. These findings will inform cross-national comparisons of study results and support some uses of general population JEMs outside their countries of origin.

Musculoskeletal symptoms associated with workplace physical exposures estimated by a job exposure matrix and by self‐report

“…Unlike self‐reported data, a JEM can also be applied retroactively to assign past exposures based on job titles that can then be used to study current or future chronic diseases . There is potential in using JEMs outside their countries of origin or to complement existing JEMs that might lack particular exposures; recently, we found that physical exposure estimates from this French JEM can be applied to an American JEM, and vice versa . However, further cross‐national comparisons are needed to fully realize this rapidly expanding area of occupational epidemiology research …”

“…Recently, we constructed a general population JEM from self‐reported physical work exposures in a large general population cohort study of salaried workers in France (Cohorte des consultants des Centres d'examens de santé—CONSTANCES) . In our previous studies, we found that this CONSTANCES JEM created homogenous exposure groups that could discriminate physical work exposures between different jobs, and that there was substantial agreement between this French JEM and an existing American JEM . To further validate the CONSTANCES JEM, this study tested the ability of the CONSTANCES JEM to demonstrate known exposure‐outcome associations for MSD symptoms at multiple body locations by applying the JEM to a new sample of participants (validation sample) from the same cohort.…”

Applying two general population job exposure matrices to predict incident carpal tunnel syndrome: A cross-national approach to improve estimation of workplace physical exposures

“…Estimates of job demands, pertaining to the frequency and intensity, were provided by expert job analysts and from self-reported exposures by individual workers across different jobs. Job demands in O*NET were scored on a 5-or 8-point ordinal scale with exposure-specific descriptive anchors (16). Occupations from O*NET were assigned a standard occupational classification (SOC) job code.…”

“…Two raters, blinded by case status, assigned job codes independently, with differences resolved by consensus. For assigning exposure values using the CONSTANCES JEM, we created a crosswalk to match French PCS codes with American SOC codes based on similarity of work physical exposures (16). French PCS codes were first matched to three-digit ISCO-88 (International Standard Classification of Occupations) codes using the Codage Assisté des Professions et Secteurs d'activité (CAPS) and an existing French auto-coding tool (24).…”

“…We found that exposure estimates from these two general population JEM were strongly related, suggesting that results obtained from different general population JEM were likely to be comparable. In some circumstances, it might be reasonable to combine exposures from different JEM to provide better estimates of some exposures (16).…”