IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i5p2211-d504719.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ascertainment Bias in a Historic Cohort Study of Residents in an Asbestos Manufacturing Community

Author

Listed:
  • Jeremy D. Wortzel

    (Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA)

  • Douglas J. Wiebe

    (Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA)

  • Shabnam Elahi

    (School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20007, USA)

  • Atu Agawu

    (Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
    Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA)

  • Frances K. Barg

    (Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA)

  • Edward A. Emmett

    (Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA)

Abstract

This paper describes follow-up for a cohort of 4530 residents living in the asbestos manufacturing community of Ambler, PA, U.S. in 1930. Using re-identified census data, cause and date of death data obtained from the genealogic website Ancestry.com, along with geospatial analysis, we explored relationships among demographic characteristics, occupational, paraoccupational and environmental asbestos exposures. We identified death data for 2430/4530 individuals. Exposure differed significantly according to race, gender, age, and recency of immigration to the U.S. Notably, there was a significant difference in the availability of year of death information for non-white vs. white individuals (odds ratio (OR) = 0.62 p -value < 0.001), females (OR = 0.53, p -value < 0.001), first-generation immigrants (OR = 0.67, p -value = 0.001), second-generation immigrants (OR = 0.31, p -value < 0.001) vs. non-immigrants, individuals aged less than 20 (OR = 0.31 p -value < 0.001) and individuals aged 20 to 59 (OR = 0.63, p -value < 0.001) vs. older individuals. Similarly, the cause of death was less often available for non-white individuals (OR = 0.42, p -value <0.001), first-generation immigrants and (OR = 0.71, p -value = 0.009), second-generation immigrants (OR = 0.49, p -value < 0.001), individuals aged less than 20 (OR = 0.028 p -value < 0.001), and individuals aged 20 to 59 (OR = 0.26, p -value < 0.001). These results identified ascertainment bias that is important to consider in analyses that investigate occupational, para-occupational and environmental asbestos exposure as risk factors for mortality in this historic cohort. While this study attempts to describe methods for assessing itemized asbestos exposure profiles for a community in 1930 using Ancestry.com and other publicly accessible databases, it also highlights how historic cohort studies likely underestimate the impact of asbestos exposure on vulnerable populations. Future work will aim to assess mortality patterns in this cohort.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy D. Wortzel & Douglas J. Wiebe & Shabnam Elahi & Atu Agawu & Frances K. Barg & Edward A. Emmett, 2021. "Ascertainment Bias in a Historic Cohort Study of Residents in an Asbestos Manufacturing Community," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-20, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2211-:d:504719
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2211/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2211/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emily Goswami & Valerie Craven & David L. Dahlstrom & Dominik Alexander & Fionna Mowat, 2013. "Domestic Asbestos Exposure: A Review of Epidemiologic and Exposure Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-42, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Edward A. Emmett, 2021. "Asbestos in High-Risk Communities: Public Health Implications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Edward A. Emmett, 2021. "Asbestos in High-Risk Communities: Public Health Implications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.
    2. Dongmug Kang & Yu-Young Kim & Minseung Shin & Min-Su Lee & Hee-Joo Bae & Se-Yeong Kim & Young-Ki Kim, 2018. "Relationships of Lower Lung Fibrosis, Pleural Disease, and Lung Mass with Occupational, Household, Neighborhood, and Slate Roof-Dense Area Residential Asbestos Exposure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-10, August.
    3. Sofie Bünemann Dalsgaard & Else Toft Würtz & Johnni Hansen & Oluf Dimitri Røe & Øyvind Omland, 2022. "A Cohort Study on Cancer Incidence among Women Exposed to Environmental Asbestos in Childhood with a Focus on Female Cancers, including Breast Cancer," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-11, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2211-:d:504719. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.