Prevalent occupational exposures and risk of lung cancer among women: Results from the application of the Canadian Job-Exposure Matrix (CANJEM) to a combined set of ten case-control studies.

Background: Worldwide, lung cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. The present study explored associations between occupational exposures that are prevalent among women, and lung cancer.

Methods: Data from 10 case-control studies of lung cancer from Europe, Canada, and New Zealand conducted between 1988 and 2008 were combined.

Characterizing the Burden of Occupational Chemical Exposures by Sociodemographic Groups in the United States, 2021.

To estimate the number and prevalence of workers in the United States exposed to chemical hazards available in the Canadian job-exposure matrix (CANJEM) database and examine exposure disparities across sociodemographic groups. We merged US worker demographic data from the Current Population Survey with CANJEM to characterize the burden and sociodemographic distribution of 244 chemical exposures in the United States in 2021. An interactive version of the full data set is available online (https://deohs.

Occupational environment and ovarian cancer risk.

Objectives: To investigate employment in an occupation or industry and specific occupational exposures in relation to ovarian cancer risk.

Methods: In a population-based case-control study conducted in Montreal, Canada (2011-2016), lifetime occupational histories were collected for 491 cases of ovarian cancer and 897 controls. An industrial hygienist coded the occupation and industry of each participant's job.

Determinants of respirable crystalline silica exposure in construction in western Canada.

Task-based respirable crystalline silica (RCS) exposure monitoring data was collected from construction work sites across 3 Canadian provinces: Alberta, British Columbia (BC), and Manitoba. In total 373 RCS samples were obtained from 70 worksites across 44 companies. Sampling was conducted between May 2015 and August 2020.

Prerequisite for Imputing Non-detects among Airborne Samples in OSHA's IMIS Databank: Prediction of Sample's Volume.

Introduction: The US Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) contains workplace measurements collected by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors. Its use for research is limited by the lack of record of a value for the limit of detection (LOD) associated with non-detected measurements, which should be used to set censoring point in statistical analysis. We aimed to remedy this by developing a predictive model of the volume of air sampled (V) for the non-detected results of airborne measurements, to then estimate the LOD using the instrument detection limit (IDL), as IDL/V.

Estimating evaporation rates and contaminant air concentrations due to small spills of non-ideal aqueous organic solvent mixtures in a controlled environment.

Although small spills of non-ideal organic solvent mixtures are ubiquitous undesirable events in occupational settings, the potential risk of exposure associated with such scenarios remains insufficiently investigated. This study aimed to examine the impact of non-ideality on evaporation rates and contaminant air concentrations resulting from small spills of organic solvent mixtures. Evaporation rate constants alphas (α) were experimentally measured for five pure solvents using a gravimetric approach during solvent evaporation tests designed to simulate small spills of solvents.

Concordance of Occupational Exposure Assessment between the Canadian Job-Exposure Matrix (CANJEM) and Expert Assessment of Jobs Held by Women.

Objectives: To compare the exposure data generated by using the Canadian job-exposure matrix (CANJEM) with data generated by expert assessment, for jobs held by women.

Methods: We selected 69 occupational agents that had been assessed by experts for each of 3403 jobs held by 998 women in a population-based case-control study of lung cancer. We then assessed the same agents among the same jobs by linking their occupation codes to CANJEM and thereby derived probability of exposure to each of the agents in each job.

Predicting first-order evaporation rate constant alpha (α) from small spills of organic solvents in a controlled environment.

Exposures to vapors generated by small spills of organic solvents are common in the occupational hygiene practice. In these scenarios, contaminant mass release is exponentially decreasing, driven by an evaporation rate constant alpha (α). Knowing α is fundamental for adequately modeling peak concentrations and/or short-term exposures that occur and for achieving efficient occupational risk analysis and management.

Exposure Determinants in the French Database COLCHIC (1987-2019): Statistical Modeling across 77 Chemicals.

Objectives: The COLCHIC database contains workplace exposure results of chemical samples collected by the French prevention network since 1987. We aimed to investigate potential associations between exposure levels and ancillary variables in COLCHIC across a broad range of chemical agents in order to provide insight into how to best interpret and exploit the information in this national database.

Methods: We selected personal and area measurements in COLCHIC and collected outside respiratory personal protective equipment (PPE), restricted to chemical agents that had at least 1000 samples available.

Impact of Variability in Job Coding on Reliability in Exposure Estimates Obtained via a Job-Exposure Matrix.

Objectives: The use of a job-exposure matrix (JEM) to assess exposure to potential health hazards in occupational epidemiological studies requires coding each participant's job history to a standard occupation and/or industry classification system recognized by the JEM. The objectives of this study were to assess the impact of inter-coder variability in job coding on reliability in exposure estimates derived from linking the job codes to the Canadian job-exposure matrix (CANJEM) and to identify influent parameters.

Method: Two trained coders independently coded 1000 jobs sampled from a population-based case-control study to the ISCO-1968 occupation classification at the five-digit resolution level, of which 859 could be linked to CANJEM using both assigned codes.

Simultaneous modeling of detection rate and exposure concentration using semi-continuous models to identify exposure determinants when left-censored data may be a true zero.

Background: Most methods for treating left-censored data assume the analyte is present but not quantified. Biased estimates may result if the analyte is absent such that the unobserved data represents a mixed exposure distribution with an unknown proportion clustered at zero.

Objective: We used semi-continuous models to identify time and industry trends in 52,457 OSHA inspection lead sample results.

Modeling occupational exposure to solvent vapors using the Two-Zone (near-field/far-field) model: a literature review.

The Two-Zone model is used in occupational hygiene to predict both near-field and far-field airborne contaminant concentrations. A literature review was carried out on 21 scientific publications in which the Two-Zone model was used to assess occupational exposure to solvent vapors. Data on exposure scenarios, solvents, generation/emission rates, near- and far-field parameters, and model performance were collected and analyzed.

Toward Understanding of Environmental Risk Factors in Systemic Sclerosis [Formula: see text].

Importance: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a severe, chronic, and incurable autoimmune fibrotic skin disease with significant extracutaneous involvement. Low concordance rate in twin studies and unequal geographic distribution of SSc argues for importance of environment in disease initiation and progression.

Objective: In this manuscript we provide a summary of all investigated potential external risk factors for SSc.

Evidence of Absence: Bayesian Way to Reveal True Zeros Among Occupational Exposures.

Objectives: Workplace exposure measurements typically contain some observations below limit of detection. The current paradigm for exposure data interpretation relies on the lognormal distribution, where censored observation are assumed to be present but not quantifiable. However, there are setting were such assumptions are untenable and true zero exposures cannot be ruled out.

Occupational Co-exposures to Multiple Chemical Agents from Workplace Measurements by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Objectives: The occupational environment represents an important source of exposures to multiplehazards for workers' health. Although it is recognized that mixtures of agents may have differenteffects on health compared to their individual effects, studies generally focus on the assessment ofindividual exposures. Our objective was to identify occupational co-exposures occurring in the United States using the multi-industry occupational exposure databank of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Multi-exposures to suspected endocrine disruptors in electronic waste recycling workers: Associations with thyroid and reproductive hormones.

Electronic waste recycling (e-recycling) exposes workers to substances such as flame retardants and metals. Some of them are known or suspected endocrine disruptors that could affect hormonal homeostasis and eventually result in adverse health outcomes. Our aim was to measure biological concentrations of organophosphate ester (OPE) metabolites, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), mercury, lead and cadmium in e-recycling workers, and to explore associations with thyroid and sexual hormones.

Bayesian Hierarchical Modelling of Individual Expert Assessments in the Development of a General-Population Job-Exposure Matrix.

The CANJEM job-exposure matrix compiles expert evaluations of 31 673 jobs from four population-based case-control studies conducted in Montreal. For each job, experts had derived indices of intensity, frequency, and probability of exposure to 258 agents. CANJEM summarizes the exposures assigned to jobs into cells defined by occupation/industry, agent, and period.

The current burden of cancer attributable to occupational exposures in Canada.

Exposure to occupational carcinogens is often overlooked as a contributor to the burden of cancer. To estimate the proportion of cancer cases attributable to occupational exposure in Canada in 2011, exposure prevalence and levels of 44 carcinogens were informed by data from the Canadian carcinogen exposure surveillance project (CAREX Canada). These were used with Canadian Census (between 1961 and 2011) and Labour Force Survey (annual surveys between 1976 and 2013) data to estimate the number of workers ever exposed to occupational carcinogens.

Halogenated flame retardants and organophosphate esters in the air of electronic waste recycling facilities: Evidence of high concentrations and multiple exposures.

Background: In response to a worldwide increase in production of electronic waste, the e-recycling industry is rapidly rowing. E-recycling workers are exposed to many potentially toxic contaminants, among which flame retardants (FRs), mainly suspected of being endocrine disruptors, are thought to be the most prevalent.

Objective: To conduct an exposure assessment of four chemical groups of FRs in Canadian e-recycling facilities, and to identify the main cofactors of exposure.

A hybrid expert approach for retrospective assessment of occupational exposures in a population-based case-control study of cancer.

Background: While the expert-based occupational exposure assessment approach has been considered the reference method for retrospective population-based studies, its implementation in large study samples has become prohibitive. To facilitate its application and improve upon it we developed, in the context of a Montreal population-based study of prostate cancer (PROtEuS), a hybrid approach combining job-exposure profiles (JEPs) summarizing expert evaluations from previous studies and expert review. We aim to describe the hybrid expert method and its impacts on the exposures assigned in PROtEuS compared to those from a previous study coded using the traditional expert method.

Expostats: A Bayesian Toolkit to Aid the Interpretation of Occupational Exposure Measurements.

Introduction: Interpretation of exposure measurements has evolved into a framework based on the lognormal distribution. Most available practical tools are based on traditional frequentist statistical procedures that do not satisfactorily account for censored data and are not amenable to simple probabilistic risk statements. Bayesian methods offer promising solutions to these challenges.

Estimating the population prevalence of traditional and novel occupational exposures in Federal Region X.

Objective: Federal Region X is an administrative region in the northwestern United States comprised of the states of Alaska (AK), Idaho (ID), Oregon (OR), and Washington (WA). Quantifying the number of workers in this region exposed to harmful circumstances in the workplace, and projected changes over time will help to inform priorities for occupational health training, risk reduction, and research.

Methods: State data for WA, ID, OR, and AK were used to estimate number of workers by occupation, in 2014 and 2024.

Development of Quantitative Estimates of Wood Dust Exposure in a Canadian General Population Job-Exposure Matrix Based on Past Expert Assessments.

Objectives: The CANJEM general population job-exposure matrix summarizes expert evaluations of 31 673 jobs from four population-based case-control studies of cancer conducted in Montreal, Canada. Intensity in each CANJEM cell is represented as relative distributions of the ordinal (low, medium, high) ratings of jobs assigned by the experts. We aimed to apply quantitative concentrations to CANJEM cells using Canadian historical measurements from the Canadian Workplace Exposure Database (CWED), taking exposure to wood dust as an example.

Agreement in Occupational Exposures Between Men and Women Using Retrospective Assessments by Expert Coders.

Objectives: To estimate the level of agreement and identify notable differences in occupational exposures (agents) between men and women from retrospective assessments by expert coders.

Methods: Lifetime occupational histories of 1657 men and 2073 women from two case-control studies, were translated into exposure estimates to 243 agents, from data on 13882 jobs. Exposure estimates were summarized as proportions and frequency-weighted intensity of exposure for 59 occupational codes by sex.