Table 1.
Characteristics of peak exposures metrics used in epidemiologic studies.
| Health outcome/study characteristics | Overall N (%) | Acute respiratory N (%) | Chronic respiratory N (%) | Immune sensitization N (%) | Pneumoconiosis N (%) | Cancer N (%) | Neurobehavioral N (%) | Cardiovascular N (%) | Biomarker N (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | 72 (100) | 12 (17) | 20 (28) | 6 (8) | 4 (6) | 15 (21) | 9 (13) | 3 (4) | 3 (4) |
| Epidemiologic study type | |||||||||
| Intensive and follow-up | 10 (14) | 5 (42) | – | – | – | – | 2 (22) | 2 (67) | 1 (33) |
| Cohort | 25 (35) | – | 11 (55) | – | 3 (75) | 9 (60) | 1 (11) | 1 (33) | – |
| Cross–sectional | 23 (32) | 4 (33) | 7 (35) | 6 (100) | – | – | 5 (56) | – | 1 (33) |
| Case–control | 8 (11) | – | 1 (5) | – | 1 (25) | 6 (40) | – | – | – |
| Case–series | 2 (3) | – | 1 (5) | – | – | – | 1 (11) | – | – |
| Ecological | 4 (5) | 3 (25) | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 (33) |
| Health outcome classification | |||||||||
| Acute | 22 (31) | 12 (100) | 2 (10) | – | – | – | 4 (44) | 2 (67) | 2 (67) |
| Chronic | 59 (82) | 4 (33) | 18 (90) | 6 (100) | 4 (100) | 15 (100) | 8 (89) | 1 (33) | 3 (100) |
| Health assessment method | |||||||||
| Questionnaire | 44 (61) | 10 (83) | 19 (95) | 5 (83) | – | – | 9 (100) | 1 (33) | – |
| Physical exam | 4 (6) | – | – | – | – | – | 4 (44) | – | – |
| Physiologic/functional or biochemical test | 39 (54) | 8 (67) | 11 (55) | 6 (100) | 4 (100) | – | 5 (56) | 2 (67) | 3 (100) |
| Death certificates/insurance | 11 (15) | – | – | – | – | 10 (67) | – | 1 (33) | – |
| Registries/records | 5 (7) | – | – | – | – | 5 (33) | – | – | – |
| Health observation period | |||||||||
| Cross-shift | 17 (24) | 12 (100) | – | – | – | – | 3 (33) | 1 (33) | 1 (33) |
| Cross-week | 5 (7) | 5 (42) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Over month(s) | 7 (10) | 2 (17) | 2 (10) | – | – | – | 1 (11) | – | 2 (67) |
| Over years | 52 (72) | 2 (17) | 18 (90) | 6 (100) | 4 (100) | 15 (100) | 5 (56) | 2 (67) | – |
| Exposure substance | |||||||||
| Particulate | 13 (18) | 8 (67) | 4 (20) | – | – | – | – | 1 (33) | – |
| VOC | 2 (3) | 2 (16) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Isocyanates (HDI, TDI, MDI) | 4 (6) | 1 (8) | 3 (15) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Gases | 9 (13) | – | 6 (30) | – | – | – | 1 (11) | 1 (33) | 1 (33) |
| Diacetyl | 2 (3) | – | 2 (10) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Irritants and allergens/JEM | 2 (3) | – | 2 (10) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Other chemicals | 5 (7) | – | 2 (10) | 2 (33) | – | – | – | 1 (33) | – |
| Silica | 4 (6) | – | – | – | 3 (75) | 1 (7) | – | – | – |
| Asbestos | 2 (3) | – | – | – | 1 (25) | 1 (7) | – | – | – |
| Metals | 8 (11) | – | 1 (5) | 4 (66) | – | – | 3 (33) | – | – |
| Solvents | 8 (11) | – | – | – | – | 3 (20) | 5 (56) | – | – |
| Benzene | 5 (7) | – | – | – | – | 5 (33) | – | – | – |
| Formaldehyde | 7 (10) | 1 (8) | – | – | – | 5 (33) | – | – | 1 (33) |
| Pesticides | 1 (1) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 (33) |
| Sampling strategy | |||||||||
| Real-time | 19 (26) | 10 (83) | 4 (20) | – | – | 1 (7) | 2 (22) | 1 (33) | 1 (33) |
| Task time integrated | 26 (36) | 5 (42) | 5 (25) | 5 (83) | – | 7 (47) | 2 (22) | 1 (33) | 1 (33) |
| Full shift time integrated | 24 (33) | 4 (33) | 6 (30) | 4 (67) | – | 7 (47) | 2 (22) | – | 1 (33) |
| Modeling | 2 (3) | 1 (8) | – | – | 1 (25) | – | – | – | – |
| Qualitative/Judgment/ JEM |
20 (28) | 1 (8) | 13 (65) | – | 3 (75) | 5 (33) | 2 (22) | 1 (33) | – |
| Biomarkers | 3 (4) | – | – | – | – | – | 3 (33) | – | – |
| Sample type | |||||||||
| Personal | 33 (46) | 10 (83) | 11 (55) | 3 (50) | – | – | 6 (67) | 2 (67) | 1 (33) |
| Area | 16 (22) | 3 (25) | 4 (20) | 5 (83) | – | – | 2 (22) | – | – |
| Sample averaging time | |||||||||
| Instantaneous/ instrument |
7 (10) | 4 (33) | 2 (10) | – | – | – | 1 (11) | – | – |
| Short-duration (15 min.) | 19 (26) | 7 (58) | – | – | – | 8 (53) | 2 (22) | 1 (33) | 1 (33) |
| Variable task duration (0.5–4 h) | 11 (15) | 3 (25) | 4 (20) | 3 (50) | – | – | – | 1 (33) | – |
| Full-shift/session (4–8 h) | 16 (22) | 1 (1) | 6 (30) | 4 (67) | – | 3 (20) | 2 (22) | – | – |
| Peak exposure summary metric | |||||||||
| Average intensity short-term | 16 (22) | 7 (58) | – | 2 (33) | – | 4 (27) | 2 (22) | – | 1 (33) |
| Highest intensity/category | 24 (33) | 4 (33) | 5 (25) | 4 (67) | 1 (25) | 5 (33) | 2 (22) | 2 (67) | 1 (33) |
| Duration > target | 5 (7) | 2 (17) | – | 1 (17) | – | 2 (13) | – | – | – |
| Frequency #/% > target | 17 (24) | 4 (33) | 2 (10) | 1 (17) | – | 8 (53) | 2 (22) | – | – |
| Yes/no event, > target | 27 (38) | 1 (8) | 14 (70) | 3 (50) | 3 (75) | 2 (13) | 3 (33) | – | 1 (33) |
| 95th percentile | 2 (3) | – | 1 (5) | 1 (17) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Variability (GSD) | 1 (1) | – | – | 1 (17) | – | – | – | – | – |
Note: percentages can be >100 when multiple characteristics are present in one study, or <100 when looking at only a sub portion of the data.