title: Use of rank-order analysis of ordinal exposure data: application to vinyl chloride exposure.
abstract: The University of Louisville currently maintains a database of work histories and exposure rankings for chemicals used in the production of polyvinyl chloride from the plant where the original angiosarcoma cases were identified. A 6-point ranking scale was used to characterize worker exposure to vinyl chloride by year, building, and job. Since this is ordinal data, non-parametric statistics have been used to evaluate exposure factors in case-control studies. Rank order analysis of vinyl chloride exposure and angiosarcoma shows a strong statistical association. In contrast, the method shows no association between vinyl chloride exposure and brain cancer. Exposure ranking is a reasonable alternative to estimation of actual dose. Rank order analysis allows for a rapid assessment of exposure-disease associations for case control studies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational Toxicology, University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky / Q000453:epidemiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014752:Vinyl Chloride / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D014752:Vinyl Chloride