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Date of filling in this questionnaire or last update: 01/04/2021
1. IDENTIFICATION & BASIC DESCRIPTION
Cohort name
  The Health Watch Study
Country
 

  • Australia
Please provide any other information on the cohort location/s if needed
  This is an ongoing project, it has been funded since 1981, and is currently funded through until 2022.
Name
  Malcolm Sim
Institution
  Monash University
Email
  malcolm.sim@monash.edu
Personal website
  https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/malcolm-sim
Do you want to add another Principal Investigator of the Cohort
 

  • Add another Principal Investigator of the cohort
Name
  Deborah Glass
Institution
  Monash University
Email
  deborah.glass@monash.edu
Personal website
  https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/deborah-glass
Website
 

  • https://www.monash.edu/medicine/sphpm/coeh/research/healthwatch
Name of committee
  Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee
Upload files
 

Contact Principal Investigator (name)
  Prof Malcolm Sim
Data access policy (briefly describe)
  On request
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
  This is an internationally heralded prospective cohort study of about 20,000 petroleum industry employees recruited since 1981, following them throughout their employment and beyond into retirement or other careers. It is investigating the relationship between cancer incidence and causes of death in the industry.
Study design (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Prospective cohort
Source population (please select as many as appropriate)
 

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

  • External study population (includes SMR/SIR studies)
Inclusion criteria
  Participation is voluntary, however the employee participation rate was around 95% – clearly demonstrating the value of the Study to employees. Cohort members were enrolled by completing a survey covering job details, lifestyle factors and health status, and remain enrolled for life. Cohort members are matched against data contained in the National Death Index and Australian Cancer Database to establish mortality and cancer incidence. This is then compared to expected sex- and age- matched rates from the general Australian population.
Enrollment
  Ongoing
Age range at entry (subcohort)
 

Minimum Maximum Mean Please describe
18

Men at enrollment
  16654
Women at enrollment
  1373
Participation rate at enrollment (if known)
  80
Comments
  Health Watch is an epidemiological health surveillance program established by the Australian
Institute of Petroleum. Since 2005 the study has been executed by researchers from Monash
University.
Health Watch consists of a prospective cohort study of all-cause mortality and cancer incidence
and a case-control study of leukaemia and benzene exposure. The cohort study was carried out
by the University of Melbourne from 1980 to 1998 and by the University of Adelaide from
1999 to 2005, before being transferred to Monash University. Researchers from Monash and
Deakin Universities took over responsibility for the nested case-control study in 1999. In 2006,
data from Health Watch were combined with that of LH cancer cases and controls from similar
Canadian and UK studies to carry out a pooled and hence more sensitive analysis of the link
between cancer risk and benzene exposure.
Health Watch covers those petroleum industry employees from all major participating oil and
gas companies who voluntarily joined the program at their work sites across Australia. About
95% of the industry’s employees who were approached to participate from refineries, gas
plants, distribution terminals, and production sites, onshore and offshore, have joined Health
Watch during the major recruitment drives between 1981 and 2000.
2. OUTCOME FOLLOW-UP
Type of data for outcome follow-up (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Active (contact with participants)
  • Death certificate
  • Disease incidence records
Active (contact with participants) (specify)
 

  • 14503
Death certificate (specify)
 

  • National Death Index (NDI)
Disease incidence records (specify)
 

  • Australian Cancer Database (ACD)
Participation at last follow-up (if known)
  80
3. OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES
Source of exposure data collected (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Questionnaire, Personal (Self-reporting or interview)
  • Questionnaire, Personal (Occupational/industry modules)
  • Industry-based questionnaire
  • Job-employment records
Occupational history/time frame
  Follow-up period
Occupational coding performed
  Yes
Occupation (specify coding system used)
 

  • The job classification developed for the American Petroleum Institute (API) was used, with modifications on the advice of local occupational hygienists in the Australian industry.
Types of exposure measurements
 

  • Workplace sampling
Methods for exposure assessment (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Expert assessment
4. OUTCOMES EVALUATED
Baseline - type of outcome data collected (select more than one if applicable)
 

  • Medical records
  • Questionnaire, individual (self-recording or interview)
Follow-up - type of outcome data collected (select more than one if applicable)
 

  • Death certificates
  • Questionnaire, individual (self-recording or interview)
Outcome type (please select as many as appropriate)
 

  • Mortality
Diagnostic groups based on ICD10
 

  • C + D Neoplasms
  • E Metabolism disease
  • F Mental disorders
  • I Heart disease
  • J Respiratory disease
  • N Kidney, renal pelvis disease
C + D Neoplasms
 

  • Other, please state
C + D Neoplasms | Other (specify)
  Melanoma, Prostate Cancer
E Metabolism disease
 

  • Other, please state
E Metabolism disease | Other (specify)
  Diabetes
I Heart disease
 

  • Hypertensive diseases
  • Chronic ischaemic heart disease
J Respiratory disease
 

  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Asthma
N Kidney, renal pelvis disease
 

  • Renal failure
Other health related outcomes
 

  • Other (specify)
Specify: Other
  External Causes (eg accidents, violence, suicide)
6. Other Information
 

  • Demographics
  • Education
  • Medical history
  • Smoking
Possibility for linkage to data registries/data enrichment via data linkage
 

  • Cancer incidence
  • Employment status
  • Mortality register