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Investing in Prospective Cohorts for Etiologic Study of Occupational Exposures
Citation:
Blair, A., C. Hines, K. Thomas, M. Alavanja, L. Freeman, J. Hoppin, F. Kamel, C. Lynch, J. Lubin, D. Silverman, E. Whelan, S. Zahm, AND D. Sandler. Investing in Prospective Cohorts for Etiologic Study of Occupational Exposures. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Indianapolis, IN, 58(2):113-122, (2015).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory’s (NERL’s) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD’s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA’s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Prospective cohorts have played a major role in understanding the role of diet, physical activity, medical conditions, and genes in the development of many diseases, but have not been widely used in the study of occupational exposures. Studies in agriculture are an exception. We draw upon the experience from using this design in agriculture to identify conditions that might lead to its use in other occupational settings. Prospective studies are widely perceived as the strongest epidemiologic design for etiologic studies. The design allows for the update of information on exposure and other factors, collection of biologic samples over time for genetic and biomarker analyses, and assessment of effect modification by genes, lifestyle and other occupational exposures. We believe that increased use of prospective studies would be beneficial in identifying and characterizing hazardous exposures in the workplace. Occupational epidemiologists should seek opportunities to initiate prospective cohorts to investigate high priority, occupational exposures.
URLs/Downloads:
FINAL FINAL PROSPECTIVE OCCUPATIONAL COHORT JOURNAL ARTICLE 08-20-14.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 234.244 KB, about PDF)American Journal of Industrial Medicine
