The impact of occupational exposures on infection rates during the COVID-19 pandemic: a test-negative design study with register data of 207 034 Dutch workers

Objective This study aimed to investigate the effects of occupational exposures on the risk of a positive COVID-19 test, and whether this differed across pandemic waves. Methods Data from 207 034 workers from The Netherlands with test data on COVID-19 from June 2020 until August 2021 were available. Occupational exposure was estimated by using...

Exploring the relationship between job characteristics and infection: Application of a COVID-19 job exposure matrix to SARS-CoV-2 infection data in the United Kingdom

Objective: This study aimed to assess whether workplace exposures as estimated via a COVID-19 job exposure matrix (JEM) are associated with SARS-CoV-2 in the UK. Methods: Data on 244 470 participants were available from the Office for National Statistics Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS) and 16 801 participants from the Virus Watch Cohort,...

Exposure to a SARS-CoV-2 infection at work: development of an international job exposure matrix (COVID-19-JEM)

Objective This study aimed to construct a job exposure matrix (JEM) for risk of becoming infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in an occupational setting. Methods Experts in occupational epidemiology from three European countries (Denmark, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom) defined the relevant exposure and workplace characteristics with...

Validation of a COVID-19 Job Exposure Matrix (COVID-19-JEM) for Occupational Risk of a SARS-CoV-2 Infection at Work: Using Data of Dutch Workers

Objectives A COVID-19 Job Exposure Matrix (COVID-19-JEM) has been developed, consisting of four dimensions on transmission, two on mitigation measures, and two on precarious work. This study aims to validate the COVID-19-JEM by (i) comparing risk scores assigned by the COVID-19-JEM with self-reported data, and (ii) estimating the associations...

Occupational asbestos exposure and risk of esophageal, gastric and colorectal cancer in the prospective Netherlands Cohort Study

The evidence for an association between occupational asbestos exposure and esophageal, gastric and colorectal cancer is limited. We studied this association specifically addressing risk differences between relatively low and high exposure, risk associated with cancer subtypes, the influence of potential confounders and the interaction between...

Occupational asbestos exposure and risk of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer in the prospective Netherlands Cohort Study

Objectives The evidence for an association between occupational asbestos exposure and pharyngeal cancer (PhC) is limited, while for oral cavity cancer (OCC) the literature is even sparser. We studied OCC and PhC risk both separately and combined (OCPC) in relation to occupational asbestos exposure, specifically addressing the influence of...

JEMs and incompatible occupational coding systems: Effect of manual and automatic recoding of job codes on exposure assignment

Background: In epidemiological studies, occupational exposure estimates are often assigned through linkage of job histories to job-exposure matrices (JEMs). However, available JEMs may have a coding system incompatible with the coding system used to code the job histories, necessitating a translation of the originally assigned job codes. Since...

Development and validation of a physical and psychosocial job-exposure matrix among older workers

Objectives We developed a general population job-exposure matrix (GPJEM), including physical and psychosocial demands as well as psychosocial resources, applicable to older and retired workers and evaluated its validity by examining associations with health. Methods Physical and psychosocial work exposures reported by 55–64-year-olds were...