A network-based approach for surveillance of occupational health exposures

Abstract

In the context of surveillance of health problems, the research carried out by the French national occupational disease surveillance and prevention network (R\'eseau National de Vigilance et de Pr\'evention des Pathologies Professionnelles, RNV3P) aims to develop, among other approaches, methods of surveillance, statistical analysis and modeling in order to study the structure and change over time of relationships between disease and exposure, and to detect emerging disease-exposure associations. In this perspective, this paper aims to present the concept of the "exposome" and to explain on what bases it is constructed. The exposome is defined as a network of relationships between occupational health problems that have in common one or several elements of occupational exposure (exposures, occupation and/or activity sector). The paper also aims to outline its potential for the study and programmed surveillance of composite disease-occupational exposure associations. We illustrate this approach by applying it to a sample from the RNV3P data, taking malignant tumours and focusing on the subgroup of non-Hodgkin lymphomas.