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Investing in prospective cohorts for etiologic study of occupational exposures
Author(s) -
Blair A.,
Hines C.J.,
Thomas K.W.,
Alavanja M.C.R.,
Freeman L.E. Beane,
Hoppin J.A.,
Kamel F.,
Lynch C.F.,
Lubin J.H.,
Silverman D.T.,
Whelan E.,
Zahm S. H.,
Sandler D. P.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22403
Subject(s) - medicine , prospective cohort study , environmental health , occupational safety and health , occupational disease , occupational medicine , cohort study , disease , biomarker , occupational exposure , gerontology , pathology , biochemistry , chemistry
Prospective cohorts have played a major role in understanding the contribution of diet, physical activity, medical conditions, and genes to the development of many diseases, but have not been widely used for occupational exposures. Studies in agriculture are an exception. We draw upon our experience using this design to study agricultural workers to identify conditions that might foster use of prospective cohorts to study other occupational settings. Prospective cohort studies are perceived by many as the strongest epidemiologic design. It allows updating of information on exposure and other factors, collection of biologic samples before disease diagnosis for biomarker studies, assessment of effect modification by genes, lifestyle, and other occupational exposures, and evaluation of a wide range of health outcomes. Increased use of prospective cohorts would be beneficial in identifying hazardous exposures in the workplace. Occupational epidemiologists should seek opportunities to initiate prospective cohorts to investigate high priority, occupational exposures. Am. J. Ind. Med. 58:113–122, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.