Browsing by Author "Vermeulen R"

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    Heirarchical regression for multiple comparisons in a case-control study of occupational risks for lung cancer.
    (Public Library of Science, 11/06/2012) Corbin M; Richiardi L; Vermeulen R; Kromhout H; Merletti F; Peters S; Simonato L; Steenland K; Pearce NE; Maule M
    Background Occupational studies often involve multiple comparisons and therefore suffer from false positive findings. Semi-Bayes adjustment methods have sometimes been used to address this issue. Hierarchical regression is a more general approach, including Semi-Bayes adjustment as a special case, that aims at improving the validity of standard maximum-likelihood estimates in the presence of multiple comparisons by incorporating similarities between the exposures of interest in a second-stage model. Methodology/Principal Findings We re-analysed data from an occupational case-control study of lung cancer, applying hierarchical regression. In the second-stage model, we included the exposure to three known lung carcinogens (asbestos, chromium and silica) for each occupation, under the assumption that occupations entailing similar carcinogenic exposures are associated with similar risks of lung cancer. Hierarchical regression estimates had smaller confidence intervals than maximum-likelihood estimates. The shrinkage toward the null was stronger for extreme, less stable estimates (e.g., “specialised farmers”: maximum-likelihood OR: 3.44, 95%CI 0.90–13.17; hierarchical regression OR: 1.53, 95%CI 0.63–3.68). Unlike Semi-Bayes adjustment toward the global mean, hierarchical regression did not shrink all the ORs towards the null (e.g., “Metal smelting, converting and refining furnacemen”: maximum-likelihood OR: 1.07, Semi-Bayes OR: 1.06, hierarchical regression OR: 1.26). Conclusions/Significance Hierarchical regression could be a valuable tool in occupational studies in which disease risk is estimated for a large amount of occupations when we have information available on the key carcinogenic exposures involved in each occupation. With the constant progress in exposure assessment methods in occupational settings and the availability of Job Exposure Matrices, it should become easier to apply this approach.
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    Lung cancer risk in painters: results from the SYNERGY pooled case-control study consortium
    (BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2021-04) Guha N; Bouaoun L; Kromhout H; Vermeulen R; Brüning T; Behrens T; Peters S; Luzon V; Siemiatycki J; Xu M; Kendzia B; Guenel P; Luce D; Karrasch S; Wichmann H-E; Consonni D; Landi MT; Caporaso NE; Gustavsson P; Plato N; Merletti F; Mirabelli D; Richiardi L; Jöckel K-H; Ahrens W; Pohlabeln H; TSE LA; Yu IT-S; Tardón A; Boffetta P; Zaridze D; 't Mannetje A; Pearce N; Davies MPA; Lissowska J; Świątkowska B; McLaughlin J; Demers PA; Bencko V; Foretova L; Janout V; Pándics T; Fabianova E; Mates D; Forastiere F; Bueno-de-Mesquita B; Schüz J; Straif K; Olsson A
    OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the risk of lung cancer associated with ever working as a painter, duration of employment and type of painter by histological subtype as well as joint effects with smoking, within the SYNERGY project. METHODS: Data were pooled from 16 participating case-control studies conducted internationally. Detailed individual occupational and smoking histories were available for 19 369 lung cancer cases (684 ever employed as painters) and 23 674 age-matched and sex-matched controls (532 painters). Multivariable unconditional logistic regression models were adjusted for age, sex, centre, cigarette pack-years, time-since-smoking cessation and lifetime work in other jobs that entailed exposure to lung carcinogens. RESULTS: Ever having worked as a painter was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer in men (OR 1.30; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.50). The association was strongest for construction and repair painters and the risk was elevated for all histological subtypes, although more evident for small cell and squamous cell lung cancer than for adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma. There was evidence of interaction on the additive scale between smoking and employment as a painter (relative excess risk due to interaction >0). CONCLUSIONS: Our results by type/industry of painter may aid future identification of causative agents or exposure scenarios to develop evidence-based practices for reducing harmful exposures in painters.
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    Recall of mobile phone usage and laterality in young people: The multinational Mobi-Expo study.
    (Elsevier B.V., 26/04/2018) Goedhart G; van Wel L; Langer CE; de Llobet Viladoms P; Wiart J; Hours M; Kromhout H; Benke G; Bouka E; Bruchim R; Choi K-H; Eng A; Ha M; Huss A; Kiyohara K; Kojimahara N; Krewski D; Lacour B; 't Mannetje A; Maule M; Migliore E; Mohipp C; Momoli F; Petridou ET; Radon K; Remen T; Sadetzki S; Sim M; Weinmann T; Cardis E; Vrijheid M; Vermeulen R
    OBJECTIVE: To study recall of mobile phone usage, including laterality and hands-free use, in young people. METHODS: Actual mobile phone use was recorded among volunteers aged between 10 and 24 years from 12 countries by the software application XMobiSense and was compared with self-reported mobile phone use at 6 and 18 months after using the application. The application recorded number and duration of voice calls, number of text messages, amount of data transfer, laterality (% of call time the phone was near the right or left side of the head, or neither), and hands-free usage. After data cleaning, 466 participants were available for the main analyses (recorded vs. self-reported phone use after 6 months). RESULTS: Participants were on average 18.6 years old (IQR 15.2-21.8 years). The Spearman correlation coefficients between recorded and self-reported (after 6 months) number and duration of voice calls were 0.68 and 0.65, respectively. Number of calls was on average underestimated by the participants (adjusted geometric mean ratio (GMR) self-report/recorded = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.47-0.58), while duration of calls was overestimated (GMR=1.32, 95%, CI = 1.15-1.52). The ratios significantly differed by country, age, maternal educational level, and level of reported phone use, but not by time of the interview (6 vs. 18 months). Individuals who reported low mobile phone use underestimated their use, while individuals who reported the highest level of phone use were more likely to overestimate their use. Individuals who reported using the phone mainly on the right side of the head used it more on the right (71.1%) than the left (28.9%) side. Self-reported left side users, however, used the phone only slightly more on the left (53.3%) than the right (46.7%) side. Recorded percentage hands-free use (headset, speaker mode, Bluetooth) increased with increasing self-reported frequency of hands-free device usage. Frequent (≥50% of call time) reported headset or speaker mode use corresponded with 17.1% and 17.2% of total call time, respectively, that was recorded as hands-free use. DISCUSSION: These results indicate that young people can recall phone use moderately well, with recall depending on the amount of phone use and participants' characteristics. The obtained information can be used to calibrate self-reported mobile use to improve estimation of radiofrequency exposure from mobile phones.
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    Wireless phone use in childhood and adolescence and neuroepithelial brain tumours: Results from the international MOBI-Kids study
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2022-02) Castaño-Vinyals G; Sadetzki S; Vermeulen R; Momoli F; Kundi M; Merletti F; Maslanyj M; Calderon C; Wiart J; Lee A-K; Taki M; Sim M; Armstrong B; Benke G; Schattner R; Hutter H-P; Krewski D; Mohipp C; Ritvo P; Spinelli J; Lacour B; Remen T; Radon K; Weinmann T; Petridou ET; Moschovi M; Pourtsidis A; Oikonomou K; Kanavidis P; Bouka E; Dikshit R; Nagrani R; Chetrit A; Bruchim R; Maule M; Migliore E; Filippini G; Miligi L; Mattioli S; Kojimahara N; Yamaguchi N; Ha M; Choi K; Kromhout H; Goedhart G; 't Mannetje A; Eng A; Langer CE; Alguacil J; Aragonés N; Morales-Suárez-Varela M; Badia F; Albert A; Carretero G; Cardis E
    In recent decades, the possibility that use of mobile communicating devices, particularly wireless (mobile and cordless) phones, may increase brain tumour risk, has been a concern, particularly given the considerable increase in their use by young people. MOBI-Kids, a 14-country (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain) case-control study, was conducted to evaluate whether wireless phone use (and particularly resulting exposure to radiofrequency (RF) and extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields (EMF)) increases risk of brain tumours in young people. Between 2010 and 2015, the study recruited 899 people with brain tumours aged 10 to 24 years old and 1,910 controls (operated for appendicitis) matched to the cases on date of diagnosis, study region and age. Participation rates were 72% for cases and 54% for controls. The mean ages of cases and controls were 16.5 and 16.6 years, respectively; 57% were males. The vast majority of study participants were wireless phones users, even in the youngest age group, and the study included substantial numbers of long-term (over 10 years) users: 22% overall, 51% in the 20-24-year-olds. Most tumours were of the neuroepithelial type (NBT; n = 671), mainly glioma. The odds ratios (OR) of NBT appeared to decrease with increasing time since start of use of wireless phones, cumulative number of calls and cumulative call time, particularly in the 15-19 years old age group. A decreasing trend in ORs was also observed with increasing estimated cumulative RF specific energy and ELF induced current density at the location of the tumour. Further analyses suggest that the large number of ORs below 1 in this study is unlikely to represent an unknown causal preventive effect of mobile phone exposure: they can be at least partially explained by differential recall by proxies and prodromal symptoms affecting phone use before diagnosis of the cases. We cannot rule out, however, residual confounding from sources we did not measure. Overall, our study provides no evidence of a causal association between wireless phone use and brain tumours in young people. However, the sources of bias summarised above prevent us from ruling out a small increased risk.