← Go back

Date of filling in this questionnaire or last update: 17/01/2026
1. IDENTIFICATION & BASIC DESCRIPTION
Cohort name
  Grain dust and microbial exposed workers
Country
 

  • Norway
Name
  Anne Straumfors
Institution
  STAMI
Email
  anne.straumfors@stami.no
Phone
  +47 23195338
Name of committee
  The Regional Ethical Committee of South-East Norway
Upload files
 

Contact Principal Investigator (name)
  Anne Straumfors
Is this cohort part of a consortium? (name consortium)
  The European Occupational Exposome and Health Cohort Consortium
Participation in pooled analyses
 

  • The cohort is potentially interested in participating in pooled analyses of (European) occupational cohort studies (note pooled analyses also includes remote decentralized analyses that would not require any transfer of primary data as well as meta-analyses).
Main aim of cohort, please briefly describe the main objectives of the cohort
  Characterize the bioaerosol exposure and exposure-related responses cross-shift
Study design (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Prospective cohort
  • Nested case-control / Case-cohort
  • Other
Specify: Other
  Exposed versus non-exposed workers in a cross-shift design
Source population (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Industry / occupation-based
Comparators (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Internal study population
Inclusion criteria
  Workers at grain elevators and compound feed mills
Enrollment
  Completed
Age range at entry (main cohort)
 

Minimum Maximum Mean
16 61 41

Age range at entry (subcohort)
 

Minimum Maximum Mean Please describe
21 60 46 unexposed workers

Men at enrollment
  94
Women at enrollment
  10
Children (<18 years) at enrollment
  2
Men at last follow-up
  94
Women at last follow-up
  10
Children (<18 years) at last follow-up
  2
Participation rate at enrollment (if known)
  80
Comments
  Participation rate is estimated participation rate
2. OUTCOME FOLLOW-UP
Type of data for outcome follow-up (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Active (contact with participants)
  • Other (specify)
Active (contact with participants) (specify)
 

  • Present at workplace before work started and after work (cross-shift)
First follow-up period (provide year)
  2008
Last follow-up period (provide year)
  2009
Number of follow-ups after baseline (provide number)
  1
Participation at last follow-up (if known)
  100
Comments
  The study was of cross shift design with repeated measurements of personal exposure. Exposure measurements were performed two consecutive days in 2008, then repeated for 5 of the companies in 2009 (one day sampling), whereas cross-shift changes in lung function and nasal congenstion, as well as respiratory and systemic symptoms and blood biomarkers were measured on the first day of exposure measurement.
3. OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES
Source of exposure data collected (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Questionnaire, Personal (Self-reporting or interview)
  • Environmental samples
  • Other (specify)
Specify: Other
  Personal exposure samples
Occupational history/time frame
  Current, at enrollment
Occupational coding performed
  No
Industry (specify coding system used)
 

  • Grain industry and animal feed industry
Types of exposure measurements
 

  • Biomarkers (see also section 5)
  • Personal external sampling
  • Workplace sampling
  • Other (specify)
Specify: Other
  Newly settled dust
Methods for exposure assessment (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Measurements (external sampling, biomarkers)
Main categories
 

  • Dusts and fibres
  • Biological factors
Dusts and fibres | Organic dusts
 

  • Plant dust (includes plants, fruits, vegetables, plant-borne materials such as natural rubber)
  • Other (specify)
Dusts and fibres | Organic dusts | Specify: Other
  Grain dust
Biological factors | Bacteria
 

  • Other (specify)
Biological factors | Bacteria | Specify: Other
  endotoxin, total bacteria counts
Biological factors | Moulds-fungi
 

  • Aflatoxins
  • Moulds
  • Other (specify)
Biological factors | Moulds-fungi | Specify: Other
  total fungal spore counts, multiple mycotoxins, total mycobiome, 1,3-beta-glucans
4. OUTCOMES EVALUATED
Baseline - type of outcome data collected (select more than one if applicable)
 

  • Clinical/functional evaluation, e.g. spirometry, ECGs (specify)
Specify: Clinical/functional evaluation, e.g. spirometry, ECGs
  Gas-diffusion (DLCO), spirometry, acoustic rhinometry
Follow-up - type of outcome data collected (select more than one if applicable)
 

  • Biomarker (specify)
  • Clinical/functional evaluation, e.g. spirometry, ECGs (specify)
  • Questionnaire, individual (self-recording or interview)
Specify: Clinical/functional evaluation, e.g. spirometry, ECGs
  Gas-diffusion (DLCO), spirometry, acoustic rhinometry,
Specify: Biomarker
  pneumoproteins, inflammatory markers and markers of platelet activation
Outcome type (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Morbidity
Diagnostic groups based on ICD10
 

  • I Heart disease
  • J Respiratory disease
Other health related outcomes
 

  • Biomarkers
  • Organ function (specify)
Specify: Organ function
  lung function
5. BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES & ANALYSIS
Biological samples collected
 

  • Blood
Biological processing
 

  • RNA
Genetic and other lab analyses
 

  • Biomarkers (specify)
  • Epigenomics
Specify: Biomarkers
  CC16, SPA, SPD, sP-selectin, IL-6, TNF-alpha, sCD40L, fibrinogen, CRP and circulating miRNA
6. Other Information
 

  • Anthropometry
  • Demographics
  • Environmental, air pollution
  • Environmental other (specify)
  • Medical history
  • Residential history
  • Smoking
{6}