The EPHOR project will lay the groundwork for evidence-based and cost-effective prevention to improve health at work by developing a working-life exposome toolbox. The total burden of disease caused by occupational exposure is estimated at 5-7%, similar to the burden resulting from urban air pollution or obesity. Given the associated societal and economic pressure, a healthy work environment is an important goal for government and industry. Current risk reduction policies and strategies are informed by existing scientific evidence. However, this evidence is limited due to the challenges of studying the complex relationship between exposure at and outside of work, and health.
We define the working-life exposome as all occupational and related non-occupational exposures (e.g. lifestyle, behaviour) throughout the course of life. Taking a working-life exposome approach will mean a great step for occupational health science. It will help address the current limitations and challenges by providing better insights into the relationships between exposure at work and disease at different life stages.
EPHOR will develop methods and tools to characterise the working-life exposome. By applying these to both existing data and for collection of new data, we will enhance our knowledge of the working-life exposome. EPHOR’s tools, methods and knowledge will be made available in a toolbox to scientists, policy makers and occupational health practitioners.
The Ephor project profile is entitled “Applying the exposome concept to working life health”. (Pronk, A., Loh, M., Kuijpers, E., Albin, M., Selander, J., Godderis, L., … & EPHOR Consortium. (2022). Applying the exposome concept to working life health: The EU EPHOR project. Environmental Epidemiology, 6(2).)
| Title | Ref | Participant | Format | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol for the collection, pre- processing and storage of biological samples | D3.1 | Report | ||
| Protocol for feasibility study | D1.3 | Report | ||
| Report on automated job coding | D4.4 | Report | ||
| Inventory of European cohorts with extensive information on occupational exposures | D5.1 | |||
| Protocol of study on working life exposome and respiratory health | D6.1 | |||
| Report on the external exposome protocol development for the case studies | D1.4 | |||
| Report on collection and defining JEMs | D2.1 | |||
| Report on tutorial for the application of a suite of ‘multiple exposure methods’ | D4.1 | |||
| Report on tutorial on the use of hierarchical models in working-life exposome research | D4.3 | |||
| Report on harmonizing existing JEMs | D2.2 | |||
| Report on protocol for including new data in EuroJEM | D2.3 | |||
| Report on development of new and more specific JEMs | D2.4 | |||
| Report on the establishment of the EPHOR mega cohort | D5.2 | |||
| Part 1: Web-based toolbox version 1.0 | D9.1 | |||
| Report on inventory of ETR models relevant for EPHOR | D4.2 | |||
| Report on dynamic coding for more meaningful categories for exposure assessment | D4.5 | |||
| Report on methods and results passive sampling method | D1.2 | |||
| Report describing the outcome of bioinformatics analysis on omics data (pathway and exposome stratification) | D3.4 | |||
| Report describing the biomonitoring, omics and bioassays methods on traditional biological matrices including quality control | D3.2 | |||
| Tools and guidance on exposome health impact assessment to feed into WP9 | D8.3 | |||
| Report on method development for processing of sensor data | D1.5 | |||
| Report on evaluation and transition into dynamic EuroJEM | D2.5 | |||
| Report on quantification of internal biological pathways in relation to external exposome | D4.6 | |||
| Protocol (including results of analyses) for future studies on respiratory health based on combining the EPHOR mega cohort approach with the detailed case study approach | D5.5 | |||
| Protocol (including results of analyses) for future studies on shift work based on combining the EPHOR mega cohort approach with the detailed case study approach | D5.6 | |||
| Protocol (including results of analyses) for future studies on respiratory health based on combining the EPHOR mega cohort approach with the detailed case study approach | D6.4 | |||
| Protocol for future studies on shift work based on combining the EPHOR mega cohort approach with the detailed case study approach including replica | D7.4 | |||
| Part 2: Web-based toolbox version 2.0 | D9.2 |