OccIDEAS: retrospective occupational exposure assessment in community-based studies made easier

J Environ Public Health. 2009:2009:957023. doi: 10.1155/2009/957023. Epub 2009 Oct 15.

Abstract

Assessing occupational exposure in retrospective community-based case-control studies is difficult as measured exposure data are very seldom available. The expert assessment method is considered the most accurate way to attribute exposure but it is a time consuming and expensive process and may be seen as subjective, nonreproducible, and nontransparent. In this paper, we describe these problems and outline our solutions as operationalized in a web-based software application (OccIDEAS). The novel aspects of OccIDEAS are combining all steps in the assessment into one software package; enmeshing the process of assessment into the development of questionnaires; selecting the exposure(s) of interest; specifying rules for exposure assignment; allowing manual or automatic assessments; ensuring that circumstances in which exposure is possible for an individual are highlighted for review; providing reports to ensure consistency of assessment. Development of this application has the potential to make high-quality occupational assessment more efficient and accessible for epidemiological studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Case-Control Studies
  • Databases, Factual*
  • Humans
  • Occupational Exposure*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Residence Characteristics
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Assessment / methods
  • Software*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*