Table 3

Cohen’s κ values—new occupational asthma-specific JEM (OAsJEM)

Agents, n=24*Cohen’s κ values between pairs of experts (1 and 2/1 and 3/2 and 3; ordered by ascending κ values)
Animals†0.39/0.47/0.56
Fish/shellfish0.08/0.52/0.54
Flour0.50/0.67/0.83
Foods†0.18/0.24/0.78
Plants-related dusts†0.21/0.26/0.29
Enzymes0.00/0.22/0.33
Latex0.48/0.53/0.59
Textile†0.36/0.45/0.69
Moulds0.18/0.18/0.44
Endotoxin0.15/0.18/0.31
Drugs†0.22/0.42/0.44
High-level chemical disinfectants†0.09/0.15/0.37
Aliphatic amines−0.01/0.14/0.18
Isocyanates0.08/0.21/0.35
Acrylates0.31/0.34/0.80
Epoxy resins0.35/0.43/0.85
Persulfates and henna1.00/1.00/1.00
Wood†0.35/0.37/0.41
Metal0.25/0.31/0.52
Metal working fluids0.35/0.39/0.49
Indoor cleaning†0.28/0.40/0.50
Bleach0.16/0.28/0.32
Organic solvents0.24/0.26/0.41
Exhaust fumes0.29/0.40/0.53

  • Unweighted Cohen’s κ values of three pairs of experts (expert 1 and expert 2/expert 1 and expert 3/expert 2 and expert 3) per agent. For each agent, Cohen’s κ values were calculated between a pair of experts, using exposure evaluations for 506 job codes, and reported in ascending values.

  • *No evaluation of κ was available (see online supplementary table E2) for specific mites (house dust, storage, plant) and specific pesticides (herbicide, insecticide, fungicide). For evaluation of mites in general the three values varied from 0.15 to 0.29

  • † Animals : exposure to animals in agriculture industry, research labs—land mammals and birds;

  • Foods : work with milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, … mostly powders (process used to obtain powder may affect allergenic properties), fish/shellfish and flour are not included in foods;

  • Other plants-related dusts : flour is not included;

  • Enzymes : those used as improver in bread dough, or in washing detergents manufacturing …;

  • Textiles : work with cotton or synthetic fibres, which explains its classification in three groups (HMW, microbes, irritants);

  • Drugs : mostly HMW agents19 (Kennedy, personal communication) but potentially also LMW1;

  • Wood : mostly LMW agents19 but potentially also HMW1 27 28;

  • High-level chemical disinfectants : high-level disinfectant or chemical sterilising agents (eg, glutaraldehyde, chlorhexidine, ethylene oxide, hydrogen peroxide);

  • Indoor cleaning : cleaning products/detergents or low/intermediate-level disinfectants.

  • HMW, high molecular weight; JEM, job exposure matrix; LMW, low molecular weight.