OccIDEAS

OccIDEAS - an Innovative Tool for Exposure Assessment

Asbestos exposure is an important historical exposure in the Australian context, which is expected to have health implications in this country for many years to come. Because of the long time lag between asbestos exposure and the onset of mesothelioma, systematic and rigorous retrospective assessment of exposure among mesothelioma cases is important in the context of the Australian Mesotheloma Registry. Given the rapidly fatal nature of the disease after the point of diagnosis, it is imperative to collect individual exposure data from patients quickly and efficiently and with as little inconvenience to the patients as possible.

OccIDEAS is a tool which enables exposure data to be collected in a rigorous way to inform exposure assessment without requiring long data collection interviews. The automated assignment of exposure assessments and the flexibility of the OccIDEAS tool are also strengths of the method in the context of the registry, which is seen as a very long-term project.