EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT AND GENDER DIFFERENCES

Exposure assessments for occupational epidemiological studies are typi cally conducted to (1) establish risk gradients with exposure, evaluat ing a potential causal relationship, or (2) estimate exposure-response dosimetry for quantitative risk calculations. Unavailable quantitativ e exposure data require use of surrogate or qualitative measures. Diff erences in women's employment patterns may make surrogate measures les s reliable, resulting in systematic errors. Exposures associated with traditionally female careers have not been fully evaluated. Occupation al cohorts are often defined to include workers with a minimum employm ent duration or employment for some minimum time in exposure-related j obs, thereby excluding many women workers. Even when included among st udied and exposed worker cohorts, women's domestic exposures may confo und risk evaluation. Male/female differences in xenobiotic uptake, dis tribution, kinetics, and metabolism may affect the relationship betwee n external exposure and resulting biologically effective dose. Clinica l factors alter the recognition of disease among women workers, confou nding risk determination. Recognizing these problems during design and analysis of occupational cancer epidemiology research is essential to develop valid preventive strategies.