Epidemiology Department, Local Health Unit TO3, Grugliasco, Italy.
National Institute of Statistics, ISTAT, Rome, Italy.
Am J Ind Med. 2022 Oct;65(10):790-799. doi: 10.1002/ajim.23423. Epub 2022 Aug 19.
Comparison between cross-national job-exposure matrices (JEMs) may provide indications of their reliability, particularly if created using the same items. This study evaluated concordance between two JEMs created from United States (US) and Italian O*NET data, using job codes linked through international job codes.
Twenty-one physical exposures were obtained from the US and Italian ONET databases. Italian ONET items were direct translations of US ONET items. Six hundred and eighty-four US and 586 Italian job codes were linked via crosswalks to 281 ISCO-08 job codes. A sensitivity study also assessed concordance on 258 jobs matched one-to-one across the two national job classifications. Concordance of US and Italian ONET exposures was estimated by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) in multilevel models adjusted and not adjusted for country.
ICCs showed moderate to poor agreement for all physical exposures in jobs linked through ISCO-08 codes. There was good to moderate agreement for 14 out of 21 exposures in models with one-to-one matched jobs between countries; greater agreement was found in all models adjusted for country. Exposure to whole-body vibration, time standing, and working outdoor exposed to weather showed the highest agreement.
These results showed moderate to good agreement for most physical exposures across the two JEMs when US and Italian jobs were matched one-to-one and the analysis was adjusted for country. Job code assignments through crosswalks and differences in exposure levels between countries might greatly influence the observed cross-country agreement. Future multinational epidemiological studies should consider the quality of the cross-national job matching, and potential cross-national differences in exposure levels.
跨国职业暴露矩阵（JEM）之间的比较可能表明其可靠性，尤其是如果使用相同的项目创建的话。本研究通过国际职业代码链接，使用工作代码评估了来自美国（US）和意大利 O*NET 数据创建的两个 JEM 之间的一致性。
从美国和意大利 ONET 数据库中获得了 21 种物理暴露。意大利 ONET 项目是美国 ONET 项目的直接翻译。通过互译表，将 684 个美国和 586 个意大利工作代码链接到 281 个 ISCO-08 工作代码。一项敏感性研究还评估了在两个国家职业分类中一对一匹配的 258 个工作岗位上的一致性。通过调整和不调整国家的多层次模型，估计了 ISCO-08 代码链接工作中的 US 和意大利 ONET 暴露的一致性，使用组内相关系数（ICC）进行评估。
ICC 显示，在通过 ISCO-08 代码链接的工作中，所有物理暴露的一致性为中等至较差。在国家调整模型中，有 14 个暴露有良好到中等的一致性；在所有调整国家的模型中，一致性更高。全身振动、站立时间和户外工作暴露于天气的暴露显示出最高的一致性。
当美国和意大利的工作一对一匹配并且分析调整为国家时，这些结果表明，两个 JEM 之间大多数物理暴露的一致性为中等至良好。通过互译表和国家之间暴露水平的差异，工作代码的分配可能会极大地影响观察到的跨国一致性。未来的跨国流行病学研究应考虑跨国工作匹配的质量以及潜在的跨国暴露水平差异。
