Towards population-wide exposure assessment

Association of Occupational Exposure to Disinfectants With Incidence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Among US Female Nurses

“…To evaluate specific exposures in large cohorts, the use of job-exposure matrices is generally favored over self-report. 39 In this population of nurses, we further showed that using a JTEM, which assigns exposure level based not only on nursing job types but also on disinfection tasks, provides better exposure estimates than a job-exposure matrix by reducing exposure misclassification. 14,24 Nursing job types and disinfection tasks were self-reported; however because associations were evaluated prospectively (ie, exposure was evaluated before the report of COPD diagnosis), differential recall bias is unlikely.…”

“…Previous studies were limited in exposure assessment because they relied only on job titles or self-reported use of general products (sprays or other cleaning products). To evaluate specific exposures in large cohorts, the use of job-exposure matrices is generally favored over self-report . In this population of nurses, we further showed that using a JTEM, which assigns exposure level based not only on nursing job types but also on disinfection tasks, provides better exposure estimates than a job-exposure matrix by reducing exposure misclassification .…”

Occupational exposure to disinfectants and asthma control in US nurses

“…Most existing studies on the relationship between the use of specific cleaning/disinfecting products and asthma relied on self-reported exposures, raising the issue of both non-differential and differential misclassification bias, potentially leading to bias either toward or away from the null [21]. Use of job-exposure matrices (JEM) is generally favored in occupational epidemiology for exposure assessment in large populations [37]. Because nursing jobs are heterogeneous (i.e., nurses with the same job title may perform different tasks), we showed that taking into account disinfection tasks (within job variability) in exposure assessment by creating a JTEM provides better exposure estimates than a JEM, i.e.…”