Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology

Question 1

Define exposure

Answer 1

Two dimensions: level and duration. For environmental factors that cause acute effects more or less immediately after exposure starts, the current exposure level determines whether effects occur.

Question 2

How is exposure expressed

Answer 2

in terms of exposure level (# of cigarettes smoked a day)

Question 3

Total exposure

Answer 3

Total exposure = external dose. Approx. exposure duration + exposure level. Combined measured of duration and exposure level.

Question 4

Individuals vs group measurement for exposure

Answer 4

a) Variation in time: individuals vary with time
b) Variation in exposure: variation in exposure or dose between individuals.
c) Distribution issues: variations presented through distribution curves
d) Measures of effect: regarding presentation of means or percentiles are important for measurements of effect.

Question 5

Dose commitment

Answer 5

i.e., population dose, calculated as the sum of individual doses. Based on the fundamental assumptions that there is no threshold individual does below which the risk is zero and the risk increases linearly with dose.

Question 6

Dose-effect relationships

Answer 6

1) Higher the dose, the more severe the effect.

Individuals reactions are different to exposure so dose-effect relationship for an individual differs from the group value.

provides information for screening purposes

Question 7

Risk Assessment

Answer 7

1) Assessment of health risk of a defined policy, action or intervention.

Question 8

Dose response relationships

Answer 8

1) The proportion of an exposed group that develops a specific effect. Shape of the relationship should look like an S or a cumulative normal distribution, can be approximated to a straight-line relationship. Can be produced for any environmental factor where the exposure can be quantified.

Question 9

Health impact assessment

Answer 9

Risk assessment focused on a specific exposure or population and is recommended to assess potential value of different preventive policies and actions.

Question 10

risk management

Answer 10

Planning and implementation of actions to reduce or eliminate health risks.

Question 11

environmental health impact assessment

Answer 11

Increased attention to environmental impact assessments (predictive analysis) and environmental audit (analysis of the existing situation) of industrial or agricultural development projects.

Question 12

Contribution of injury epidemiology

Answer 12

Plays an important role in environmental and occupational health. traffic accident injuries are on the increase in many countries and a major cause of death among young people, and children.

i.e., traffic injuries, workplace injury, violence, and suicides.

Question 13

Epidemiology is used In environmental and occupational fields to establish:

Answer 13

Etiology
Natural history
The health status of a population
The value of interventions and health services

Question 14

Setting Safety Standards d-for Environmental and Occupational epidemiology

Answer 14

Dose-effect is used to decide which effect is most important to prevent. Once a decision is made concerning an acceptable response level, the dose-response relationship gives the maximum dose that would be acceptable.

Question 15

Measuring past exposure

Answer 15

i. Use of company or trade union records to identify individuals with past exposure to a specific hazard or type of work.

Question 16

Healthy worker effect in occupational studies

Answer 16

Exposed group of workers thus has a lower overall mortality rather than the corresponding age group in the general population. the lower mortality has been called the healthy worker effect which needs to be taken into account whenever the mortality group of workers is compared with the general population;