Historical Context and Recent Advances in Exposure-Response Estimation for Deriving Occupational Exposure Limits

Abstract

Virtually no occupational exposure standards specify the level of risk for the prescribed exposure, and most occupational exposure limits are not based on quantitative risk assessment (QRA) at all. Wider use of QRA could improve understanding of occupational risks while increasing focus on identifying exposure concentrations conferring acceptably low levels of risk to workers. Exposure-response modeling between a defined hazard and the biological response of interest is necessary to provide a quantitative foundation for risk-based occupational exposure limits; and there has been considerable work devoted to establishing reliable methods quantifying the exposure-response relationship including methods of extrapolation below the observed responses. We review several exposure-response modeling methods available for QRA, and demonstrate their utility with simulated data sets.