Age- and smoking-adjusted associations between current occupational exposure and levels of fluorescent oxidation products in men and women
| Occupational exposure | Men | Women | p-value for interaction | ||||
| Subjects n | GM ratio (95% CI) | p-value | Subjects n | GM ratio (95% CI) | p-value | ||
| Non exposed# (reference) | 180 | 1 | 289 | 1 | |||
| Cleaning products | |||||||
| 1) Industrial cleaning products (JEM) | 1 | 11 | 1.06 (0.93–1.21) | 0.36 | |||
| 2) Irritant cleaning products (expert assessment)¶ | 10 | 1.24 (1.07–1.43) | 0.004 | 51 | 1.06 (0.99–1.13) | 0.08 | 0.05 |
| 1) or 2) | 11 | 1.24 (1.08–1.42) | 0.002 | 52 | 1.05 (0.99–1.12) | 0.12 | 0.03 |
| LMW agents (JEM) | |||||||
| Any LWM agent+ | 26 | 1.10 (1.02–1.18) | 0.01 | 27 | 1.01 (0.92–1.09) | 0.89 | 0.14 |
| Highly reactive chemicals | 13 | 1.12 (1.01–1.23) | 0.03 | 24 | 1.02 (0.93–1.11) | 0.66 | 0.28 |
| Metals | 11 | 1.05 (0.95–1.17) | 0.34 | 1 | |||
Jobs classified as exposed to irritant cleaning products (assessed among hospital workers only) included various healthcare-related occupations (e.g. nursing professionals, personal care workers (mainly women), medical doctors, physiotherapists and life science technicians). Jobs classified as exposed to highly reactive chemicals included chemists, biologists or pharmacologists, and jobs such as varnishers/painters, embalmers or hairdressers. GM: geometric mean; JEM: job-exposure matrix; LMW: low molecular weight. #: nonexposed to any agent potentially a risk for asthma or respiratory health (asthma-specific JEM); ¶: including bleach, ammonia, decalcifiers, solvents, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, alcohol, quaternary ammonium compounds, chloramine T, ethylene oxide, and disinfection or bio-cleaning tasks; +: including industrial cleaning products, highly reactive chemicals, metals and diisocyanates.