Application of a Job-Exposure Matrix to a Case-Control Study of Lung Cancer

Interview information was obtained on primary and secondary occupations for 261 male lung cancer patients and 444 controls residing on the island of Oahu, HI. With the use of a computerized job-exposure matrix (JEM), exposure levels were assigned to each subject for each of 5 known and 2 likely lung carcinogens. A multiple logistic regression model was used to compute the odds ratio (OR) for exposure to each carcinogen, adjusted for age, ethnicity, and pack-years of smoking. On the basis of the criterion of either a dose-response effect or a statistically significant OR (P