Ann. Occup. Hyg., 2015, 1–7 doi:10.1093/annhyg/mev001
Validity of Expert Assigned Retrospective Estimates of Occupational Polychlorinated Biphenyl Exposure
1.Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA 2.Stewart Exposure Assessments, LLC, Arlington, VA 22207, USA 3.Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Drexel University School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA 4.Biostatistics Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1-240-276-7293; fax: +1-240-276-7835; e-mail: [email protected] Submitted 8 September 2014; revised 3 December 2014; revised version accepted 9 December 2014.
A b st r a ct Assessment of retrospective exposures based on expert judgment in case-control studies is usually of unknown validity because of the difficulty in finding gold standards for comparison. We investigated the relationship between expert-assigned retrospective occupational polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure estimates and serum PCB concentrations. Analyses were conducted on a subset of cases (n = 94) and controls (n = 96) in the multi-center National Cancer Institute, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Case-Control Study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Based on the subjects’ lifetime work histories, an industrial hygienist assigned each job a probability of PCB exposure [
Validity of Expert Assigned Retrospective Estimates of Occupational Polychlorinated Biphenyl Exposure
1.Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA 2.Stewart Exposure Assessments, LLC, Arlington, VA 22207, USA 3.Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Drexel University School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA 4.Biostatistics Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1-240-276-7293; fax: +1-240-276-7835; e-mail: [email protected] Submitted 8 September 2014; revised 3 December 2014; revised version accepted 9 December 2014.
A b st r a ct Assessment of retrospective exposures based on expert judgment in case-control studies is usually of unknown validity because of the difficulty in finding gold standards for comparison. We investigated the relationship between expert-assigned retrospective occupational polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure estimates and serum PCB concentrations. Analyses were conducted on a subset of cases (n = 94) and controls (n = 96) in the multi-center National Cancer Institute, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Case-Control Study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Based on the subjects’ lifetime work histories, an industrial hygienist assigned each job a probability of PCB exposure [
