Use of plant- and period-specific job-exposure matrices in studies on occupational cancer.
研究在芬兰木工队列中构建工厂和年份特异性的职业暴露矩阵，以更准确估算历史暴露，减少风险估计偏倚，对职业流行病学研究者有参考价值。
Job-exposure matrices were constructed and applied in the estimation of past exposures in a case-referent study nested within a cohort of Finnish woodworkers. The objective was to avoid bias in the risk estimates because of a misclassification of exposures. The matrices were constructed separately for each plant under study and each calendar year of follow-up. The level of exposure was incorporated in the matrices, since rather comprehensive data on exposures were available. The individual work histories were converted to exposure histories by a computer program which calculated several exposure indicators (eg, level and dose, with and without allowance for a latency period). The comparison between several indicators was thought to provide additional information for the final evaluation of results. The use of the plant- and period-specific job exposure matrices may be considered in cohort and nested case-referent studies on occupational hazards as an alternative to other procedures used in the estimation of exposures. Specific matrices may find broader applicability along with the increasing availability of detailed hygienic data.