Lucile Migault1, Joseph D Bowman, Hans Kromhout2, Jordi Figuerola3,4, Isabelle Baldi1,5, Ghislaine Bouvier1, Michelle C Turner3,4,6,7, Elisabeth Cardis3,4,6, Javier Vila3,4,6,8. 1. University of Bordeaux, Inserm UMR 1219 EPICENE Team, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, Bordeaux, France. 2. Environmental Epidemiology Division, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Nieuw Gildestein Yalelaan, Utrecht, The Netherlands. 3. Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain. 4. Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Plaça de la Mercè, Barcelona, Spain. 5. Bordeaux University Hospital, Service de Médecine du Travail et pathologie professionnelle, Pessac, France. 6. CIBER Epidemiologia y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Av. Monforte de Lemos, Madrid, Spain. 7. McLaughlin Center for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. 8. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Radiation Protection and Environmental Monitoring, McCumiskey House, Richview, Dublin, Ireland.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to build a job-exposure matrix (JEM) using an international coding system and covering the non-thermal intermediate frequency (IF) (3-100 kHz, named IFELF), thermal IF (100 kHz-10 MHz, named IFRF), and radiofrequency (RF) (>10 MHz) bands. METHODS: Detailed occupational data were collected in a large population-based case-control study, INTEROCC, with occupations coded into the International Standard Classification of Occupations system 1988 (ISCO88). The subjects' occupational source-based ancillary information was combined with an existing source-exposure matrix and the reference levels of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) for occupational exposure to calculate estimates of level (L) of exposure to electric (E) and magnetic (H) fields by ISCO88 code and frequency band as ICNIRP ratios (IFELF) or squared ratios (IFRF and RF). Estimates of exposure probability (P) were obtained by dividing the number of exposed subjects by the total number of subjects available per job title. RESULTS: With 36 011 job histories collected, 468 ISCO88 (four-digit) codes were included in the JEM, of which 62.4% are exposed to RF, IFRF, and/or IFELF. As a reference, P values for RF E-fields ranged from 0.3 to 65.0% with a median of 5.1%. L values for RF E-fields (ICNIRP squared ratio) ranged from 6.94 × 10-11 to 33.97 with a median of 0.61. CONCLUSIONS: The methodology used allowed the development of a JEM for high-frequency electromagnetic fields containing exposure estimates for the largest number of occupations to date. Although the validity of this JEM is limited by the small number of available observations for some codes, this JEM may be useful for epidemiological studies and occupational health management programs assessing high-frequency electromagnetic field exposure in occupational settings.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to build a job-exposure matrix (JEM) using an international coding system and covering the non-thermal intermediate frequency (IF) (3-100 kHz, named IFELF), thermal IF (100 kHz-10 MHz, named IFRF), and radiofrequency (RF) (>10 MHz) bands. METHODS: Detailed occupational data were collected in a large population-based case-control study, INTEROCC, with occupations coded into the International Standard Classification of Occupations system 1988 (ISCO88). The subjects' occupational source-based ancillary information was combined with an existing source-exposure matrix and the reference levels of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) for occupational exposure to calculate estimates of level (L) of exposure to electric (E) and magnetic (H) fields by ISCO88 code and frequency band as ICNIRP ratios (IFELF) or squared ratios (IFRF and RF). Estimates of exposure probability (P) were obtained by dividing the number of exposed subjects by the total number of subjects available per job title. RESULTS: With 36 011 job histories collected, 468 ISCO88 (four-digit) codes were included in the JEM, of which 62.4% are exposed to RF, IFRF, and/or IFELF. As a reference, P values for RF E-fields ranged from 0.3 to 65.0% with a median of 5.1%. L values for RF E-fields (ICNIRP squared ratio) ranged from 6.94 × 10-11 to 33.97 with a median of 0.61. CONCLUSIONS: The methodology used allowed the development of a JEM for high-frequency electromagnetic fields containing exposure estimates for the largest number of occupations to date. Although the validity of this JEM is limited by the small number of available observations for some codes, this JEM may be useful for epidemiological studies and occupational health management programs assessing high-frequency electromagnetic field exposure in occupational settings.
Authors: K Teschke; A F Olshan; J L Daniels; A J De Roos; C G Parks; M Schulz; T L Vaughan Journal: Occup Environ Med Date: 2002-09 Impact factor: 4.402
Authors: Michael A Kelsh; Mona Shum; Asher R Sheppard; Mark McNeely; Niels Kuster; Edmund Lau; Ryan Weidling; Tiffani Fordyce; Sven Kühn; Christof Sulser Journal: J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol Date: 2010-06-16 Impact factor: 5.563
Authors: Elisabeth Cardis; Lesley Richardson; Isabelle Deltour; Bruce Armstrong; Maria Feychting; Christoffer Johansen; Monique Kilkenny; Patricia McKinney; Baruch Modan; Siegal Sadetzki; Joachim Schüz; Anthony Swerdlow; Martine Vrijheid; Anssi Auvinen; Gabriele Berg; Maria Blettner; Joseph Bowman; Julianne Brown; Angela Chetrit; Helle Collatz Christensen; Angus Cook; Sarah Hepworth; Graham Giles; Martine Hours; Ivano Iavarone; Avital Jarus-Hakak; Lars Klaeboe; Daniel Krewski; Susanna Lagorio; Stefan Lönn; Simon Mann; Mary McBride; Kenneth Muir; Louise Nadon; Marie-Elise Parent; Neil Pearce; Tiina Salminen; Minouk Schoemaker; Brigitte Schlehofer; Jack Siemiatycki; Masao Taki; Toru Takebayashi; Tore Tynes; Martie van Tongeren; Paolo Vecchia; Joe Wiart; Alistair Woodward; Naohito Yamaguchi Journal: Eur J Epidemiol Date: 2007-07-18 Impact factor: 8.082