The Occupational Questionnaire in Retrospective Epidemiologic Studies: Recent Approaches in Community-Based Studies

Abstract

In community-based studies, questionnaires are usually the sole source of information on occupational exposures. Three main categories of questions can be distinguished and are presented in this paper, along with examples of appropriate questionnaires. General questions elicit information on job history, tasks, and work environment in nonspecific terms as shown by a general questionnaire used in a large hypothesis-generating study of occupational cancer in Montreal. Occupation-specific questionnaires are designed to obtain more detailed information on exposure by detailing the various tasks, processes, and materials associated with given professions or industrial activities; an example is a questionnaire developed in Montreal for welders. Questionnaires may also include exposure-specific questions in the form of checklists of materials and exposures; an exposure-specific questionnaire, developed for exposure to formaldehyde, wood dust, paints, adhesives, chromium, and nickel in the framework of a French nasal cancer study, is presented. The development of a questionnaire depends on the number and nature of the exposures under study. In order to maximize validity, it is recommended that questionnaires be developed and interpreted with the help of hygienists, be administered preferably by interview, include a detailed job anamnesis (general questions) to be followed by occupation or exposure-specific questions, and use a chemical vocabulary understandable by the subjects.